Afghan Interpreter Scheme Described As An "Utter Failure"

Afghan interpreters alongside British forces in Afghanistan.

A Government programme to help former interpreters for British forces in Afghanistan has been described as an "utter failure" by MPs.

A new report by the Defence Committee concluded the scheme had failed to bring a single interpreter to safety in Britain.

MPs on the committee blasted the Intimadation Scheme, which was set up to help civilians at risk of reprisals from the Taliban after working for coalition forces during the UK's fighting presence in the country. 

"Relocation to the UK has been treated as a matter of last resort."

The report said the scheme seemed to go to "considerable lengths" to stop the relocation of interpreters and other locally employed civilians (LECs), who were threatened and intimidated, to the UK. 

Speaking to Forces News, Conservative Dr Julian Lewis MP, the committee's chairman, said:

"We suspect that the Afghan Government probably doesn't want to admit how dangerous the security situation is in their country and how at risk people are because they can't protect interpreters and others who assisted our soldiers often in very dangerous environments.

"Logic would dictate that there are two reasons why we ought to have an intimidation policy that allows at least some of the most concerning cases to come through and come relocate to Britain. 

"And the two reasons for doing that are, A - the moral obligation.

"But B - a reputational point, if Britain gets known for leaving those who serve along its soldiers on the frontline, for leaving them out in the cold at the end of the campaign then its going to be much more difficult in the future to be able to persuade local people that they should put their lives at risk in order to assist us in such a vital role as interpreters."

The report said the failure of the scheme was in stark contrast to a second programme, known as the Redundancy Scheme, which has re-homed 1,150 Afghans in the UK. 

The Redundancy Scheme is open to Afghan civilians who had been working in frontline roles for at least 12 months when the UK began to drawdown forces in December 2012.

The committee said the scheme was "generous and proportionate".

On the other hand, the Intimidation Scheme was "in theory" open to all civilians working for the British.

But the report found that it focused "overwhelmingly" on solutions that involved civilian workers remaining in Afghanistan, receiving security advice or relocation within the country.

The investigation, 'Lost in Translation? Afghan Interpreters and Other Locally Employed Civillians', called for a more "sympathetic approach" urged the Government to abandon its "relocation only in extremis" policy. 

About half of the approximate 7,000 civilians who worked for the British in Afghanistan were interpreters, who often worked in dangerous scenarios.

The report noted: 

"Relocation to the UK has been treated as a matter of last resort.

"Remarkably and regrettably, not one single interpreter (or other LEC) has successfully been relocated to the UK under the Scheme as implemented so far."

It also criticised the Afghan government, which was involved in creating the schemes, saying its claim that relocation might lead to a "brain drain" was "disingenuous".

The report also stated:

"It is impossible to reconcile the generosity of the Redundancy Scheme with the utter failure of the Intimidation Scheme to relocate even a single LEC to the United Kingdom.

"This incompatibility of outcomes leads us to question whether the Afghan Government ... is simply unwilling to admit that the country is too dangerous to guarantee the safety of former interpreters and other LECs."

Earlier in May, it was announced that Afghan interpreters who were relocated to Britain would not have to pay the Home Office to stay.

More than 150 translators who were given a five-year visa to seek sanctuary in Britain, wrote to the new Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson to highlight their concerns.

The interpreters who worked on the battlefield in Helmand Province, had said they faced deportation if they could not find the £2,398 per person to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the country once their visas expired.