Elite soldiers driving for Deliveroo: Afghan soldiers blocked from joining British Army they fought alongside
14 August 2024, 10:49 | Updated: 14 August 2024, 12:13
Afghan soldiers blocked from joining British Army they fought alongside
Highly trained army personnel who trained with the UK’s special forces have been hindered by strict eligibility requirements, leaving them to work as cleaners or Deliveroo drivers.
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Former major general Mirahmed Azimi led nearly 9,000 Afghan special forces units while fighting the Taliban but now struggles to find full time work after moving to the London suburb of Harrow.
The elite soldiers he led are now either unemployed or working as cleaners, taxi drivers or for Deliveroo, the takeaway delivery company, according to a report by The Times.
More than 800 former Afghan soldiers could potentially serve in the British Forces, estimates Shukria Barakzai, a Former Member of Parliament in Afghanistan, who fled Kabul in 2021.
This comes as the British Army faces a recruitment crisis, losing soldiers at an unsustainable rate.
Ms Barakzai told LBC's Nick Ferrari at breakfast that these soldiers share the same "expertise and commitment" as the British forces they worked with for more than a decade inside Afghanistan.
"They are not new." she said about the soldiers. "They have been working with British soldiers for more than a decade inside of Afghanistan."
"I think expertise and commitment are the most important for any soldiers and the Afghan soldiers have all those values
"It will be such a loss to see soldiers trained by the British system doing Deliveroo or just working in pizza shops while in the meantime spending the time and money for Britain to build up that skill which may take another decade."
The British Army requires people to have lived in the UK for five years before they can enlist. That disqualifies any of the military personnel who fled Kabul after the Taliban took over in 2021.
"No one is asking to bring stars from the sky" Ms Barakzai continued. "The Ministry of Defence just needs to make some exceptions for those soldiers whom they worked with before."
A government spokesperson said: “This government has a new drive to ensure that all Afghans who have relocated to the UK are supported to build their new lives, and to address shortcomings of the ARAP scheme at pace.
“In the UK, Afghans who have been relocated are entitled to work and a range of support is provided, including language training, recognition of qualifications, and specialist employment advice, to help people find jobs.
“Afghans who obtain British citizenship can apply for roles in the military, provided they meet other necessary criteria including age requirements, education specifications and medical standards."
