Afghan Relocations: Special Forces

Allan Dorans Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2024 Commons Chamber

[James Heappey]

I will need to write to the hon. Member on that.

[Allan Dorans (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

Due to the high number of former Afghani soldiers whose lives are at risk as long as they remain in Afghanistan, what conversations has the Minister had with Cabinet colleagues on the possibility of additional safe routes to the United Kingdom?

[James Heappey]

These things are discussed regularly, as the hon. Gentleman would imagine. There is an additional route to the United Kingdom in the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme. Indeed, our ARAP and ACRS offer covers all Afghan citizens who served alongside our armed forces or worked alongside our diplomatic missions—or who were simply prominent in Afghan Government and society, and for whom we therefore feel that relocation is necessary for their protection—up to a point. ARAP and ACRS are matched, not quite in their generosity but in their scope, by schemes in many other countries that were a part of the NATO force in Afghanistan and/or the wider donor community for Afghanistan, so the opportunities for people to leave Afghanistan and resettle elsewhere are enormous. We should be proud of the UK schemes, which, today’s announcement notwithstanding, are incredibly generous. We are moving at the best pace we can to move people out of a country where that is very difficult.