Arguments about the rights and wrongs of the War on Terror have now gone on for over a decade. I don’t think that there will ever be a consensus, in this country at least, about whether the actions of the US or Britain were justified. For the record, I see Bush and Blair’s bypassing of the United Nations, lies and fabrication of evidence as criminal. The Iraq War, in my view, should never have taken place.
However, there is one principle on which we should agree: that anybody who risks their life to support our army, be it by taking up arms or using other skills, should be supported by our country if they later find themselves in need. In essence, we’re talking about the military covenant. Unfortunately, the British government has tried to shirk its responsibilities, first under the Brown administration with the Gurkhas, and now under Cameron with Afghan interpreters.
There is no question that the ability of our soldiers to communicate effectively with the people whose country they were liberating was essential to running an effective military operation. The role of about 1,200 interpreters in this was obviously essential, and yet ministers aimed to deny them UK visas. The problem for these interpreters is that hardline Taliban sympathisers also realize how important their ‘collaboration’ was, and pose a direct threat to their safety, particularly once British withdrawal has completed.
The reasoning of our elected representatives was, they said, that the granting of a resettlement package similar to Iraqi interpreters would send out a message that the military intervention had failed to secure freedom and safety in Afghanistan. In reality, that was a feeble excuse for a shameful drive to knock a few million off public spending and a few hundred off immigration figures. I’m not making a party political point: Gordon Brown’s treatment of the gurkhas was just as appalling, if not worse. Thank goodness that then, as now, the Prime Minister has performed a U-turn.
600 Afghan interpreters are to come to the UK, and have help to find housing and employment. As far as British society is concerned, this will be an imperceptible drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, we can feel a little bit better knowing that we’re a nation which honours its responsibility.