UK has duty to protect ex-Afghan Special Forces operators from Taliban, says Mercer

Afghan Special Forces veterans should be helped to resettle in the UK to prevent them from being persecuted by the Taliban, Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer has insisted.

Mr Mercer pledged to everything he could so the former operatives from Afghan Territorial Force 444 and Commando Force 333 - known as The Triples - would be allowed to come to Britain.

The units were set up, trained and funded by British forces, but fell under the control of the Afghan security forces, meaning they did not immediately qualify for the UK's ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme.

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But Mr Mercer told the Commons: "I ... am clear where that criteria on the ARAP entitlement sits, I’m clear that the vast majority of these operators should fit within that criteria.

"If they meet that criteria and they deserve to be in the United Kingdom then I will do everything I can to get them here.

"This is a Government effort, it's not a single-led issue, this is a cross-Government issue between Home Office, DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), defence. I've been asked to oversee it by the Prime Minister, and that's what I'm doing."

An investigation by The Independent, Lighthouse Reports and Sky News found that dozens of personnel who served with The Triples have been beaten, tortured or killed by the Taliban since the withdrawal of Nato forces.

And while some of the operators managed to flee to Pakistan, many risk being deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

But Armed Forces Minister James Heappey had previously pointed out the CF333 and ATF444 units, which countered drug-trafficking and organised crime, reported into the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs.

He said they were therefore not automatically within the scope for relocation under the ARAP scheme.

But Mr Mercer said: "We have a duty to these individuals.

"Whilst technically the Minister for the Armed Forces was right in that they were led and had direct command chains into the Afghan government, there is going to be no attempt whatsoever from this Government to close down avenues for those who served [in CF333 and ATF444] who I know he personally trained and fought alongside.

"Whilst I recognise the concern, he will know that I will not oversee a scheme that does not oversee its duty to those – particularly those in the [CF333 and ATF444] task forces who he and I served alongside in Afghanistan."