KABUL – A group of former Afghan soldiers who served alongside British forces have accused the United Kingdom of collectively and unfairly rejecting their asylum applications under a relocation program meant to protect Afghan allies.
In a statement issued on Friday, the group said they had applied for asylum through the UK’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), a scheme designed to resettle Afghans who worked with or for the British government.
The applicants claim that their requests were dismissed in bulk, using what they described as “repetitive and generic justifications.”
Launched in April 2021, the ARAP program offers relocation to eligible Afghans and their immediate family members. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) says the scheme officially closed to new applications on July 1, 2025.
According to the statement, the group applied for asylum in an effort to escape Taliban reprisals for their cooperation with British forces during combat missions. They say they received rejection notices from UK authorities stating their evidence of direct employment was either “missing” or “unverifiable.”
But the former soldiers argue that they often worked without formal contracts, noting, “Our lives were the signature in those joint missions with British forces.”
The exact number of individuals whose claims have been rejected remains unknown.
The group is now calling for an independent public review of the decision-making process under the ARAP scheme, urging UK lawmakers and human rights bodies to intervene.
They have also urged the British government to honor what they describe as a moral obligation to its former Afghan partners, many of whom now face serious threats under Taliban rule.
The UK’s efforts to resettle Afghan allies have faced repeated challenges. In February 2022, a major data breach exposed the names and contact details of nearly 19,000 ARAP applicants. The leak, revealed by the BBC, raised fears that the Taliban could use the information to target individuals.
In response, the UK government launched a covert relocation operation to extract those at risk. According to Reuters, the move was prompted by concerns that the leaked identities left many vulnerable to Taliban retaliation. The operation reportedly cost the British government around £2 billion.