The Treatment of Afghan Interpreters for the British Army
I campaigned for Iraqi interpreters and other auxiliaries, when our forces were leaving Iraq. Eventually proper and honourable arrangements were made for them. I regret that no lessons seem to have been learnt from that experience. The Times has quoted the cases of two particular Afghans, Mr Mohammed R Hottak, and another, code-named Eddie. It is worth noticing that Eddie worked for our forces in Afghanistan and then briefed troops in England who were about to go on duty there. I also read that Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, has described Eddie’s treatment as “a disgrace”. On this occasion I agree with him. The Times also rightly points out that the United States grants automatic asylum to its interpreters after two years in service.
Our problems could be overcome by cooperation between the MOD and the Home Office, with clear instructions being given to the UKBA about past and future cases. If we fail to resolve this matter urgently, the honour of the British Army will be harmed and the good name of this country for fair-dealing will be at risk. The issue will only become more acute as the remaining British forces leave Afghanistan.
I trust that no-one will fall back on the argument that fair and decent treatment will lead to a rush of asylum applications. The number of present and former interpreters etc must be relatively small, and known through Army records. Moreover, these men, with their knowledge of English and of our ways, will integrate easily on arrival here, and contribute to our society and economy.
I should also mention that if generous financial compensation is offered as an alternative to refugee status here, a significant number will accept the cash offer.
I would go further and say that integrating people who are proven pro-UK into society can also help to dilute the influence of the small number of extremists living in the UK who speak about Afghanistan/Iraq without any personal knowledge of the places and people.
It is morally right to offer them UK citizenship to these people – but it is also strategically wise in the fight against extremism.
dilute the influence of the small number of extremists living in the UK who speak about Afghanistan/Iraq without any personal knowledge of the places and people.
That’s a funny old argument! Where would our knowledge of geography and political geography be,if everybody took that approach?
In the hands of non-extremist political geographers?? Ha! Ha! Ha!
if generous financial compensation is offered as an alternative to refugee status here, a significant number will accept the cash offer.
Quite. Rather than them spending a life time working here and then taking back paid-off mortgage with them, although that might be a higher sum. There must be a good many Pakistani/Afghanis who consider their own place in their own country a jolly sight better place to live than these desperately overcrowded and tiny islands.
We need to keep an eye on any Greater-Contexts-Influencing, especially for the Future:
a new Earth-Citizenship should by now be learnable from the UN (its University should be able to start delivering a basic generic Earth-cirtizenship course to the 7 billion people of the world, deliverable by TV, computer, and DVD; surely ) ?
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We in the UK also need to radically reform our British-citizenship curriculum, to become a sustainworthy national citizenship, co-supportively with the new Earth-citizenship*.
Surely our Historical-Colonial-Britain is no refuge, whatsoever, for any-one except the short-term vulnerable such as ‘foreign-collaborators (interpreters’) fallen vulnerable to ‘fatwah’ type retribution, by whatever-government-ruled-them-then, or now ?
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Nevertheless, I think we have time;
I see no other Nation pressing for an egalitarianly generic curriculum, syllabus, even single-subject, for a sustainworthy Earth-Citizenship, to be co-temporaneously compatible with new Sustain-worthy-National- Citizenships.
For a ‘sustain-worthy’ Earth-Citizenship;
we should be able to help lead, and gather an Inter-National “moratorium”, of ‘No-Fault-Forgiveness’, for past bad histories of commission of wrongs, and of omission of ‘rights’, around the whole world.
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Within the UK we ongoingly still have some bad ‘unfinished histories’ actively impeding both our Home-Progress and our Overseas-Image.
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* Do not conflate such Earth-Citizenship as this, with the going
“International Community”
which is not a 7-billion-strong community at all,
and is in fact not even a community at all, being made up principally of Closed Political and Financial (Economic) Teams and Cartels, with ‘Sanctions’ and ‘Peace-Making-Armed-Forces’ at their disposal, to be deployed against any “evil one” or “Evil-Axis”.
[ One such ‘sanction’ and ‘military-intervention’ is that already planned for 2025,
an International “Community’s” macro-seas-minesweeping operation
in the Persian Gulf
and possibly along any other sea-routes carrying (Middle-East) Oil/Strategic-Commodities to the USA and/or to other nation-states in It’s the USA’s ‘Pocket’ ].
Are these not quite vital Contexts to be included in our deliberations ?
What always puzzles me in these cries for more immigrants into our society, one that is stretched to the limit, is, this effort was supposed to be a NATO act of unity. Instigated and demanded by the USA. The main players being, the US, UK, Aus and the Afghan united front.
Now, the US and Australia are vast land masses with room and resources suitable to import more people than this tiny island of crammed citizens altogether. Therefore, common sense tells the mind they would be in a far better position to carry the extra load, especially when it was instigated by US expansionism in the first place.
It strikes me as more than ridiculous that we should be asked to foot the bill of more questionable individuals to our shores when the people of this country, who pay the bills for government war games, are totally opposed to the influx of more people to this country. And these you want to import cannot be relied on not to turn on their host once they are in situ.
I also note the Europeans are not heavily invested in these war zones and manage to keep themselves out of the mess of mass mutilation and the forcing of nations to a lifestyle and kind of government they desperately fight against. From what I read, the billions of pounds our tax payers contribute and being poured into that land appears to exacerbate their famine and the consequent starvation of their people is now out of all control to its use.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/malnutrition-southern-afghanistan-shocking-levels
Let the US find enough room for its mercenaries to reside and prosper and leave the British what little space and money they have left.
Alternatively, ask those millionaire leaders of this country, to club together and buy an island to accommodate those they use to fight their war games and make their day thrill. Take Blair for example, he should be more than willing to take on the financial upkeep of at least a thousand, which would be a piece of cake for him financially.
The tax payer of this country have starving, ragged children right here to care for, without importing more adult dependents to find a living for. Ask Duncan Smith, he is into the starvation of the masses, so I’m sure he has some kind of head count.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5g6WoB2gh3NRHHyN532MMWE3yc2TA?docId=N0368191346723641397A
And of course the cost of peoples lives and limbs which are directly caused by our governments policies to unite in war. Then abandon our soldiers and families of the dead when they are British and returning home. The military homeless who are hidden from view of the public in case it should incite their wrath. The severely wounded who come home through the back door, unseen and unaccepted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gJnrXXumfw&feature=related
Our duty is to these soldiers of ours, way and above those bought by the US to be their mercenaries.
And look at those they recruit as babes in our midst.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS89GxuN88c&feature=related
These boys joined up for probably death in Afghanistan because there was no work or future for them here in the UK.
It’s enough to make you physically sick. To quote our Mr Cameron.
Lord Hylton,
There are indeed many reasons to care for those who have served as language and cultural interpeters in war even if one opposes almost all other kinds of migration into the country.
Maude,
America is large. It is largely agricultural which requires large amounts of land per person. It arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest which are all landforms which will not support many people authentically and which are almost entirely absent in Britain. It unlike Britain has numerous hurricanes, a tornado belt, volcanoes and earthquakes whick limit many other zones as ideal for large populations. In addition, it miliary is not mostly farmed out to the allies and commonwealth and the modern weapons based here use vast tracts of land as do their operators. Further, it is a society with numerous problems caused in part by too much migration from too many places. It must decrease the intake of new populations to restore and balance its mainstream societies. There are also hundreds of reservations of land for the nations which were here earlier and many including some white conservatives (like me) think most of those reservations should be larger and none should be smaller.
We are a badly understood and often badly governed society which will not handle its problems well without handling this problem… So, sorry.
@Frank:
That’s made a great argument for stopping immigration here. We have a very small island and could fit it inside one of your fifty States. If you have no room for the US mercenaries we sure as heck do not either. More, the US has trillions of dollars to spend on the Afghan people, so it would seem only right to take them in and house and feed them as you would any other people who fight for your cause.