A British general, who commanded the United Kingdom's forces in Afghanistan as part of the US-led coalition forces there has slammed his country's government for betraying Afghan troops who fought alongside them against the Taliban* from 2001 to 2021.
Around 200 Afghan special forces soldiers who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan after the Taliban stormed back to power in Kabul face the risk of being deported to their homeland as Islamabad tightens the screws on Afghan nationals residing in the neighboring sovereign state.
If this eventually happened, they could be persecuted by the Taliban for their close association with the British troops who battled the hardline Islamic movement in Afghanistan for two decades.
Against this backdrop, former British General Sir Richard Barrons said that it would be a disgrace if the UK failed to relocate the Afghans who worked for the island nation during Afghanistan's democratic government but were now residing in Pakistan.
"It reflects that either we're duplicitous as a nation or incompetent. It is a betrayal, and the cost of that betrayal will be people who served with us will die or spend their lives in prison," Barrons said.
Interestingly, the UK is not the only Western power that has been accused of abandoning Afghans following the Taliban takeover.
Last month, Pakistan said that around 25,000 Afghans who escaped the Taliban after the US pulled out its troops from the nation are still awaiting their visas for relocation to America.
* under UN sanctions for extremism