independent.ie– America has extended a visa lifeline to thousands more Afghans seeking refuge in the face of Taliban gains, increasing pressure on the UK to ramp up its own resettlement scheme.
The US announcement was seized on by senior politicians and former military commanders in the UK, who urged the government to step up efforts to relocate former Afghan employees.
Under the new US rules, Afghans who worked for the American government or military, as well as those with US contracting firms, aid agencies and media organisations, will be eligible for visas.
The offer “expands the opportunity to permanently resettle in the United States to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk”, the State Department said.
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of Britain’s Commons defence select committee, said: “We should absolutely be doing more. We should have been leading on this.”
Warning that “nobody anticipated the speed at which the country would fall”, he said Afghans who worked with British forces are “now in great danger as the Taliban hunts them down”.
He urged the UK government to “expedite the programme” to resettle interpreters and not “turn our backs” as the country slides towards civil war.
Admiral Lord West of Spithead, who was chief of the naval staff at the beginning of combat operations in Afghanistan, also weighed in.
The UK government should agree to take Afghans who worked in other roles with UK forces beyond translating, he said, arguing they are at risk of retaliation from the Taliban.
“We should be doing something with urgency. There are Afghans at risk of being killed. We need to be faster and be more open-minded [about who to resettle],” he said.
