Mike Crockart
Main Page: Mike Crockart (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)Department Debates - View all Mike Crockart's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(10 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Hammond
I think I said to the hon. Gentleman the other day that there has been combat in that area of northern Helmand and that the Taliban did take some ground from the Afghan national security forces. However, the ANSF rapidly regrouped, and almost without any support from the international security assistance force retook the towns in question. The ANSF are now in effective control of those towns on the ground. The Taliban attack has been defeated. That is not to say that the ANSF are not prepared for a further assault by the Taliban. This area of Helmand is by far the most kinetic in Afghanistan. It is a very dangerous area still, and it will be for the foreseeable future.
Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)
In the difficult circumstances that the Secretary of State outlines, some of those most in danger are the 600 interpreters who served with the British forces on the front line. In June last year, he outlined plans to allow them to resettle in the UK, so will he tell the House why, according to recent reports, only two of them have so far been granted visas?
Mr Hammond
I do not have the statistics on the current state of the programme to hand, but it is working and applications are being processed. I am very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with the exact current state of affairs.