Habibul Rahaman had been working for the British army as a translator for four years when he received a call from his father from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in 2013.
Rahaman’s mother had suffered a heart attack and was in hospital, his father told him. “My father said, ‘she might die,”’ Rahaman told VICE World News in a phone interview.
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Then stationed at a patrol base in restive Helmand province, where the majority of British forces were based at the time, Rahaman was granted three days of leave to visit his mother. He feared greatly for his mother, and the wellbeing of his family, and overstayed by one day to be with them for as long as possible. But when he returned to Helmand, he was told he had been sacked.
Now, almost 10 years later, Rahaman says that extra day of unsanctioned leave could cost him his life.
Back in 2001, a US-led Western coalition invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, Islamic fundamentalists who had controlled the country since 1996. The US, UK, and other counties accused the Taliban of harbouring Osama Bin Laden, responsible for the September 11th terror attacks, and of providing a safe haven to members of his group, Al-Qaeda.
This invasion – and subsequent Taliban insurgency – has turned into America’s longest war. After 20 years, US President Joe Biden has ordered a complete withdrawal of all American troops from the country by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this year, with other countries following suit, or already having long left.
Despite the billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lives lost, the Taliban are taking advantage of the withdrawal to rapidly gain territory in Afghanistan. They are now thought to control, or to contest, around 70 percent of the country’s districts, and have surrounded many provincial capitals. Since last Friday, they’ve captured five, including the strategically vital city of Kunduz in the North, whose highways lead to Kabul.
Fighting is also raging in Herat, Kandahar, and Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand province where Rahaman spent so much time as an interpreter. Back in June, a US military assessment suggested the country could fall to the militants in as little as six months.
Given the Taliban’s lightning offensive, attention has turned to the evacuation of those Afghans who worked with the coalition, who fear they will be killed by the Taliban for collaborating with the enemy. These fears are very real: in June one interpreter for US forces, Sohail Pardis, was beheaded after approaching a Taliban checkpoint.
In December last year, the UK government announced a new scheme that would offer relocation to more former staff in light of the rapidly changing situation.
But staff who were dismissed from service – like Rahaman – are ineligible for relocation. And the Taliban are closing in.
“They are coming to Kabul,” he said. “They will arrest us, they will kill us, whether we were terminated or not.”
Last month, VICE World News spoke to a former interpreter in the northern city of Kunduz. Abdullah, who spoke under a pseudonym to protect his identity, had his contract terminated after a commander claimed to have found hashish in his bedroom.
When Kunduz fell to the Taliban on Sunday, we contacted Abdullah. He replied 20 hours later. “Surrounded by the Taliban,” he said via WhatsApp message.
“I need help… do not leave me behind.”
Abdullah’s predicament is one that threatens to be reproduced across Afghanistan if the Taliban advance continues.
After bipartisan pressure, the US announced Operation Allies Refuge, which hopes to airlift up to 50,000 of its former local staff and their families to the country. Canada has also said that “special immigration measures” will ensure the safe evacuation of its staff.
Rahaman said he’s contacted the British embassy in Kabul a number of times, to no response. Now, he alleges it is impossible even to get close to the building. “The first gate is manned by the Afghan police,” he says. “They say, ‘it’s not possible for you to go to the UK’.”
“I don’t know what to do. If I go to the US embassy, they just say, ‘you worked with the British, there’s nothing we can do for you guys’.”
“I can’t leave Kabul,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”
The Sulha Alliance, an organisation of mainly British military veterans advocating for the rights of former local staff, has said that up to 35 percent of translators employed by the British army were dismissed from service. This means that there are hundreds of people, and their families, potentially facing the wrath of the Taliban, with no means of escape.
“We can’t go into hiding,..Iran is not good to the Afghans, Pakistan is not good to the Afghans,” said Rahaman, citing border closures and difficulties claiming asylum.
“There is nowhere left to run.”
After significant media and political pressure, the UK government announced last week a “doubling of pace,” saying that around 1,500 staff were processing asylum claims from Afghanistan. In a statement to VICE World News, a spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was looking into Rahaman’s case.
“Nobody’s life should be put at risk because they support the UK government in Afghanistan,” said the spokesperson.
“Those who were dismissed for serious offences, including those that constitute a crime in the UK or threatened the safety and security of British troops, will continue to be excluded.”
Rahaman remembers his four years of service on the war’s frontline vividly, believing his job was essential to British operations in Afghanistan.
“After two weeks I went to the frontline… during the day and during the night we were patrolling to fight the Taliban, together with the Afghan National Army.”
“Many times we were faced with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] – it was a surprise we didn’t lose our lives, our legs. Many of my friends died during that time.”
When he’s not worrying about his future, and that of his family, his rejected asylum claim seems like the ultimate betrayal. His disciplinary infraction, he says, was minor, and understandable.
“So many former interpreters have gone to the UK, but there are still hundreds of us left.”
“We saved many British lives but we are being left behind.”
The MoD said it “will continue to consider exceptionally compelling and compassionate circumstances on a case–by–case basis.”
“We cannot comment on individual applicants.”
