Elite Afghan troops face return to Taliban after UK 'betrayal'

Open link in next tab

Elite Afghan troops face return to Taliban after UK 'betrayal'

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67663888

About 200 British-trained special forces soldiers are in danger as Pakistan expels undocumented foreigners.

Elite Afghan troops face return to Taliban after UK 'betrayal'

The figures - gathered by a network of Afghan veterans - reveal the scale of what one former UK general calls a "betrayal" and a "disgrace".

The soldiers fled to Pakistan, which now says it will expel Afghan refugees.

The UK says it has brought thousands of Afghans to safety.

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, who served the British Army in Afghanistan over 12 years, told BBC Newsnight that the failure of the UK to relocate these soldiers "is a disgrace, because it reflects that either we're duplicitous as a nation or incompetent".

"Neither are acceptable," he said. "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."