The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) has apologized to Afghan applicants for the ‘reckless’ error who were previously told to validate their documents with the Taliban-led government.
The British government confirmed on Sunday that 37 applicants to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Police (ARAP) scheme, designed to relocate those who directly assisted British forces, asked to validate their documents with the Taliban government. However, the UK refuses to recognize the Taliban’s government.
Several applicants have received emails from officials requesting documentation to be sent with stamps from the Afghan government.
Following an earlier denial of the practice, the MoD has now expressed its “unreservedly for this error”. One MP compared the request to “asking them to sign their death warrant”, and charities said that individuals were trying to flee the country and were being put in danger.
However, the Ministry finally admitted to the mistake “we corrected the mistake and urgently strengthened our internal guidelines to ensure this does not happen again”. The MoD spokesperson said. “We apologize unreservedly and continue to work tirelessly to move eligible people to safety,” he added, reported by Guardian.
The British government promised to relocate up to 20,000 Afghans, but 11,212 Afghans have already done so in the UK as part of the ARAP programme, according to UK Home Office data.
