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Afghanistan: How many people has the UK evacuated? Afghanistan: How many people has the UK resettled?
(5 months later)
The former Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has been defending the UK's handling of the evacuation from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August. A retired army general has criticised the government for not doing enough to evacuate Afghans who previously worked with the British, after the Taliban seized Kabul in August 2021.
It follows claims from a whistleblower, Raphael Marshall - who worked at the Foreign Office at the time - that the government's response to the crisis was chaotic and dysfunctional. Gen Sir John McColl said the UK was "not delivering" on its pledge to help its former staff and their families.
How many people were evacuated by the UK? About 18,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by the UK government last summer, including more than 6,000 British nationals.
Mr Raab said 15,000 people were evacuated by the UK from Afghanistan from 15 August to the end of that month. How many Afghans have been resettled in the UK?
He said it was a larger number than by any other nation except the US. In April 2021 - before the Taliban took control - the government launched a new scheme to resettle Afghans in the UK called the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
At the time, the government said the 15,000 people included 5,000 British nationals, 8,000 Afghans and 2,000 children. The Ministry of Defence says 9,000 people have been relocated since ARAP's launch.
Some Afghan nationals had already arrived in the UK for resettlement before that date. Under the scheme, Afghans who worked for the British military and UK government - for example, as interpreters - are able to settle permanently in the UK, rather than the five years' residency which was previously offered.
The Foreign Office told us that since the end of August, a further 3,000 people had been helped to leave Afghanistan. This included more than 1,100 UK nationals. The Home Office said another 1,400 former staff and their families had already been relocated since 2013 under the earlier Ex-Gratia scheme.
In written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Marshall said he estimated that between 75,000 and 150,000 people in Afghanistan had applied for evacuation to the UK in August. In addition to ARAP, the government opened the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) in January 2022, which will allow up to 20,000 refugees to settle in the UK.
He estimated that 5% of these received assistance. This scheme focuses on women and children as well as religious and other minorities in danger from the Taliban.
What about other countries? In September, a government factsheet said it would welcome 5,000 Afghans in the first year.
The US evacuated the largest number of people from Afghanistan in August. The government announced that the first Afghan family had been resettled under this scheme in January 2022. But it hasn't said how many people have been resettled under ACRS since then.
From 14 August to 28 August, it got 113,500 people out of the country. How many Afghans applied to be evacuated?
The government hasn't confirmed how many Afghans have asked to come to the UK.
However, in written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Raphael Marshall, who previously worked on the Foreign Office's Afghanistan crisis response, estimated that between 75,000 and 150,000 people had applied for evacuation in August 2021.
He also estimated that 5% of these received assistance.
How do the resettlement schemes work?
As part of an initiative called "Operation Warm Welcome", local councils have been allocated funding packages of £20,520 per person over three years.
The funding will help refugees to enrol in education, find work and integrate in their new communities.
The government also announced it would provide an additional £10m in the first year for housing costs, with £5m available in year two and £2m in year three.
However, it has been widely reported that up to 12,000 refugees are still being housed in hotels.
In February 2022, the Home Office said that accommodating Afghan refugees in hotels cost £1.2m per day.
A Home Office spokesperson insisted the government was working hard with local councils to find permanent homes for the refugees.
Afghanistan evacuee 'feels stuck' in hotel room
What have critics said about the Afghan resettlement schemes?
Gen Sir John McColl - who served as the prime minister's special envoy to Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006 - said it was "appalling" that the UK was failing to meet its commitments.
He believes hundreds of those who are eligible to come to the UK are still in hiding.
Gen Sir John McColl said the government should "feel deeply ashamed" of its record
Immigration lawyer Sarah Pinder argues that official resettlement schemes are often too slow for crises such as the one in Afghanistan.
"The idea that people can queue up to make an application by staying put... in reality, it's difficult to put into practice," she said.
And she said the criteria were often very narrow, leaving people "stuck in a loop" between different schemes.
Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas Symonds warned the government schemes "risk leaving people in Afghanistan in deadly danger".
Some Afghans have also struggled to work legally and rent homes in the UK because of delays in updating their official papers.
How can other Afghans come here?
The main other way to settle in the UK is to seek asylum once within the country's borders.
However, proposed changes to the UK immigration system mean that people arriving illegally in the country could be sent to Rwanda for processing.
Home Office statistics show that Afghan asylum seeker applications to the UK grew from 1,417 in September 2020 to 1,974 in September 2021, an increase of 39%.
How many people did other countries evacuate?
The US evacuated the largest number of people from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power.
Afghans wait to be processed after arriving in the US on an evacuation flightAfghans wait to be processed after arriving in the US on an evacuation flight
Other countries evacuated much smaller numbers over that period, according to official statements and press releases From 14 August to 28 August, it got 113,500 people out.
Other countries evacuated much smaller numbers over that period, according to official statements and press releases:
Germany - more than 5,300Germany - more than 5,300
Italy - more than 5,000Italy - more than 5,000
Canada - more than 3,700Canada - more than 3,700
France - around 3,000France - around 3,000
Since the end of August, some countries have continued to carry out occasional evacuations. France evacuated 258 people just last week. Since the end of August, some countries have continued to carry out occasional evacuations. France evacuated 258 people at the end of April 2021.
How many British nationals are left? There was also an increase in the number of Afghans who applied for asylum last year in some EU countries such as Greece, France and Germany.
In August, Mr Raab said that the number of British nationals remaining in Afghanistan was "in the low hundreds, " although he would not give a more precise figure. How many British nationals are left in Afghanistan?
The Taliban took control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in August this year At the time of the evacuation, then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the number of British nationals still in Afghanistan was "in the low hundreds", although he wouldn't give a more precise figure.
Mr Raab told a committee of MPs that nearly all the people in Afghanistan with single UK nationality and accompanying documentation had been brought back - but it had proved harder to estimate the number of dual-nationality Britons remaining in Afghanistan. Mr Raab told a committee of MPs that nearly all the people in Afghanistan with single UK nationality and accompanying documentation had been brought back - but that it was hard to estimate the number of remaining dual-nationals.
The example he provided was that some large families may have one or more people that were documented, but it was unclear what the status of the rest of the family was. He also cited the challenged posed by families where not everyone was documented.
On 7 December, the Prime Minister's special representative for Afghanistan, Nigel Casey, told MPs there were about 200 British nationals still in Afghanistan. On 7 December 2021, the prime minister's current special representative for Afghanistan, Nigel Casey, told MPs there were about 200 British nationals still in Afghanistan.
How are Afghans resettled in UK? No update to this figure has been announced.
The UK government has a scheme to resettle Afghans - the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which was launched on 1 April.
Under the scheme, Afghans who worked for the British military and UK government (for example, as interpreters) are able to move to the UK permanently, rather than getting five years' residency as was previously offered.
The Home Office says there have been 7,000 people relocated under the ARAP scheme since its launch.
Before the ARAP scheme, the Home Office says 1,400 former staff and families were relocated since 2013 under a previous scheme called the Ex-Gratia Policy.
In addition to ARAP, the government has said the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will allow a total of 20,000 to settle in the UK.
It will focus on women and children as well as religious and other minorities in danger from the Taliban.
A fact-sheet released about it in September said it would welcome 5,000 Afghans in the first year, although the scheme is yet to open.
Immigration lawyer Sarah Pinder said resettlement schemes are often too slow for crises such as the one in Afghanistan.
"The idea that people can queue up to make an application by staying put... in reality, it's difficult to put into practice," she said.
And she said the schemes' criteria were often narrow, leaving people "stuck in a loop" between different ones.
What about other Afghans seeking asylum?
Outside a small number of official resettlement schemes, the main way to settle in the UK is to seek asylum once within the country's borders.
In 2020, 1,336 people from Afghanistan applied for asylum, out of 29,456 total applications from around the world, and 580 were granted it. But not all of those granted asylum had applied in the same year.
They were much larger numbers of Afghans applying for asylum last year in some EU countries, such as Greece, France and Germany.
This year up until September, there were 1,974 asylum applications in the UK from Afghan nationals - an increase of almost 40% over the previous year.
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