Afghanistan: Interpreters

Lord Astor of Hever Excerpts

Wednesday 27th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Coussins]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of recent reports of Taliban threats against Afghan interpreters who have worked with British forces, they will extend the targeted assistance scheme to enable these interpreters and their families to resettle in the United Kingdom on the same basis as Iraqi interpreters.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever)]

My Lords, we take any reports of threats towards our staff very seriously. We have in place a policy for investigating and dealing with intimidation of our locally engaged civilians, with specific measures aimed at reducing the risks they face from Taliban threats. We are looking carefully at how to make appropriate provision to support LECs as we end our combat mission. I expect to update the House on our formal policy later in the year.

[Baroness Coussins]

My Lords, I appreciate that Answer. However, can the Minister explain why the Government felt able to offer Iraqi interpreters exceptional indefinite leave to enter the UK outside of the Immigration Rules but cannot do the same now for their Afghan equivalents? They have risked their lives doing a professional job for us and in many cases now live in hiding in fear of their lives. Why are our NATO allies, including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Germany, all able to offer resettlement packages to their Afghan interpreters but we seem reluctant to do the decent thing by ours?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, we are looking very carefully at how we are going to make appropriate provision for LECs, incorporating the lessons that we learnt from Iraq. We will not abandon these people. We are conducting a review of our policy towards locally engaged civilians in Afghanistan as the scale of our presence there decreases. As I said, I expect to provide an update to the House on our formal policy later this year. As to our NATO allies, we are working very closely with them on this issue, especially the Danes. Not all NATO allies have made announcements on LECs. Among those who have, there is a wide range of schemes, including some which are similar to the intimidation policy that we are already implementing.

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, how many of our interpreters have already been assassinated and how many have received death threats from the Taliban? Does my noble friend not think that there should be a moral obligation on all NATO allies to adopt a common policy in this respect to protect those who have been our faithful servants throughout our tenure of office in Afghanistan?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, 24 LECs have been killed while working for UK forces and 122 have been injured since 2006. As I said, we are in close contact with our NATO allies about how to take this matter forward.

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords, the Minister must, I am sure, believe that this is weasel wording and not good enough. How we behave towards these people is a question of trust and honour and this really is not good enough. It gives a very bad message for any of our forces in future operations about whether people should help them. We have to move forward rather faster and more certainly on this issue.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

As I said, my Lords, we will not abandon these people. It is a very complex subject. I have met a number of these people, as I am sure a number of other noble Lords have, in Afghanistan, and this relates not only to interpreters but also to people with other skills. Not all of them want to come to this country. Afghans are a proud people and some want to stay and use their language skills to help their country. If possible, we want to help them to do that. The Afghans will not thank us for removing some of their most able people.

[Lord Stirrup]

My Lords, good interpreters are crucial in a wide range of the operations that the UK Government seek to undertake. Does the Minister agree that we will find it increasingly hard to obtain the services of such interpreters if we are perceived to be discarding them when they are no longer needed? Doing the right thing too slowly can foster that perception. The Government’s current approach risks not only being unjust but actually being harmful to our future capabilities.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the noble and gallant Lord makes a good point. As I said earlier, we will not abandon these people. The National Security Council met earlier this month to consider the issue and civil servants have been sent away to consider how best to deal with it. However, we will not abandon these people.

[Lord Dobbs]

My Lords, some 10 years after the invasion of Iraq we have been unable to deliver either stability or democracy. How confident is the Minister that in 10 years’ time we will not have the same sorry story to tell about Afghanistan?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I have been out to Afghanistan several times, as have other noble Lords, and each time the situation is a lot better than it was before. So we do have a good story to tell. I am very optimistic about the future of Afghanistan.

[Lord Rosser]

My Lords, under the last Government a settlement programme was agreed for Iraqi staff and their dependants. At the end of last year, the shadow Home Secretary called on the Government to offer a settlement scheme for Afghan interpreters who had helped and worked alongside British troops, in some cases suffering injury and now facing threats from the Taliban as our troops pull out. If someone now fears for his own and his family’s safety as a result of working with our soldiers and helping to fight for Britain’s long-term security, we should be prepared to act. Why is there any hesitation on the part of the Government when these are people who have surely been through the hardest citizenship test one could envisage?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, there is no hesitation. We take our responsibility for all members of staff very seriously and have put in place measures to reduce the risks they face. Precautions are taken during recruitment and staff are fully briefed of any risks involved in their work before taking up employment. As I said, the Government are looking into this matter, and I hope to report back to the House later this year.