These men helped me when I was a soldier in their country. Britain’s refusal to help them reflects a racist history of denial
The plight of hundreds of Afghan interpreters who have served alongside British forces over the past 20 years is becoming increasingly desperate. They are hunted by a resurgent Taliban. They are executed for “collaboration”. They are ignored by a Home Office refusing to grant many of them a right of resettlement. Our national failure to acknowledge our obligation to these men and their families is a moral catastrophe. In putting things right, we might begin to rescue not only them, but also ourselves.
To the bureaucrats in government, the interpreters are not soldiers. They are mere civilian contractors, easily let go at the end of a job. That is not how it was to those of us on the ground in Afghanistan, where I served a tour of duty in 2009. They were our ’terps. They patrolled with us, ate with us, sweated with us. When we faced the risks of improvised explosive devices and ambushes, the ’terps faced them too, at our side.
＼ 最新情報をチェック ／
