Crackdown on migrants ‘will endanger lives of Afghans who helped UK,’ says British forces interpreter

An Afghan interpreter injured while helping British forces fight the Taliban fears the government’s crackdown on migrants puts many more lives at risk.

New rules are aimed at denying access to the UK asylum system to anyone arriving irregularly – such as in a small boat crossing the Channel.

But Rafi Hottak, a former translator for the UK army in Afghanistan, said it meant ex-colleagues who have not been given the sanctuary here they were promised would be left at the mercy of Taliban militants.

Mr Hottak, 36, left Afghanistan in 2011 – four years after being wounded by an explosion in Helmand Province – because he had received threats.

He was initially denied British citizenship, with UK Border Agency officials claiming he had fabricated his military links, but won on appeal.

Now settled in Birmingham, he is an accountant and father-of-three – and also campaigns for the rights of fellow former interpreters.

Mr Hottak told Metro: ‘We are losing precious lives every day and most of them are people who have served the Nato forces in Afghanistan. If the existing schemes do not include them, they are forced to flee the country and claim asylum.

‘Now if asylum routes are closed, it means the UK government is taking their fundamental human right away and telling them, “I will not save your life even if you have served the Nato forces and I would rather you are killed by the terrorist Taliban”.’

More than 21,000 Afghans have been welcomed under two schemes for Afghans who assisted UK war efforts. But the Ministry of Defence admitted in January some 71,149 Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy applications were still waiting to be processed.

Some 4,300 people have been given leave to come here but remain in Afghanistan, fearing reprisals from the Taliban for working with the British.

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