British minister defends Afghan resettlement plan

(File photo) Priti Patel.

Afghans seeking refuge in the UK who arrive on small boats from across the Channel will be treated the same as any other migrants who enter the country by the same means, the home secretary has suggested. Priti Patel appeared to confirm there would be no exception made for those fleeing the Taliban who used “irregular” routes to come to the UK, saying people allowed to resettle in Britain would have to come through one of two schemes. The first is the new programme launched overnight, which the government says will allow 20,000 Afghan refugees to come to the UK over the next five years and “start a new life in safety”. It will run separately to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap), launched in April, which offers relocation for those who helped British operations in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, officials confirmed that the Home Office would waive visa requirements for some Afghan citizens to allow them to come to the UK “on compelling and compassionate grounds”. Applying for a visa to come to the UK can be a long, difficult and expensive process for Afghan nationals, with Covid and the closure of visa processing centres in the region because of the deteriorating security situation causing difficulties even before the Taliban took control of the country. Patel said the aim of the new resettlement system was not to “criminalise” Afghan refugees. But when asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether they would be treated any differently from other migrants arriving in the UK on small boats, she said: “They will claim asylum in the way in which people who enter our system are currently claiming asylum.” She continued: “We would obviously tell people not to come through illegal means. Illegal means also means that they’re travelling through many safe countries. Irregular migration doesn’t just manifest in the UK, people are travelling through European countries – they can claim asylum in European countries.” The UK’s chief of the defence staff, Gen Sir Nick Carter, said the Taliban were co-operating with British troops around Kabul airport. “They are keeping the streets of Kabul very safe and indeed very calm. They are helping us at the airport,” he told Sky news. He said he did not think the Taliban “want to become international pariahs again”, adding: “I do think that they have changed.”