Latest news with #BritishSpecialForces
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
One Special Forces officer blocked 1,585 Afghans from settling in UK
A UK Special Forces officer personally rejected 1,585 resettlement applications from Afghans with credible links to British commandos, newly released documents files, disclosed by the Ministry of Defence in court on Thursday, show the unnamed UKSF officer rejected every application referred to him in the summer of 2023, in what was described as a "sprint".The MoD told the court that the officer may have been connected to the ongoing inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by the admission comes after the BBC revealed last week that the UKSF officer – who previously served in Afghanistan rejected the applications from Afghans who may have witnessed the alleged war crimes. Afghan commandos, known as the Triples, supported the SAS and SBS for years in Afghanistan and were in danger of reprisal after the Taliban seized back the country in thousands of UK resettlement applications containing credible links to the Triples were rejections came at a time when a public inquiry in the UK had begun investigating allegations that British special forces had committed war crimes on operations in Afghanistan where the Triples were the Afghan commandos were in the UK, they could be called as witnesses - but the inquiry has no power to compel testimony from foreign nationals who are officials raised concerns as early as October 2022 about the role of the UKSF in rejecting applications with links to the Triples units, the new documents a witness statement submitted to court, Natalie Moore, the head of the UK's Afghan resettlement team, wrote that she became concerned the UKSF was applying a practice of "automatic rejections" with regard to Triples, giving rise to the "appearance of an unpublished mass rejection policy".In January 2024, following the BBC's revelation of the existence of a UKSF veto over applications, then-Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer warned senior cabinet ministers in writing of a "significant conflict of interest that should be obvious to all".The veto gave the UKSF "decision-making power over... potential witnesses to the inquiry", Mercer said, calling the arrangement "deeply inappropriate".In the same letter, Mercer said that he had seen evidence that five former Triples had been killed by the Taliban after their resettlement applications were rejected. And in a meeting with Ms Moore, he highlighted a case in which an applicant was rejected having "previously confronted UKSF leadership about EJKs [extrajudicial killings] in Afghanistan".Despite concerns first being raised internally in October 2022 - and again between October 2023 and January 2024 - in March 2024 the MoD denied to both the BBC and Parliament that UKSF had had a veto over the former commandos' applications. The Triples - so-called because their designations were CF 333 and ATF 444 - were set up, trained, and paid by the UKSF. When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, they were judged to be in grave danger of reprisal and were entitled to apply for resettlement to the more than 2,000 applications judged by resettlement caseworkers to have credible evidence were subsequently rejected by the MoD later announced a review of more than 2,000 rejected applications after finding that the decisions were "not robust". Earlier this week, Armed Forces Minster Luke Pollard announced a new phase of the review to take into account up to 2,500 further cases which may have been improperly of the former Triples who were denied visas have since been tortured and killed by the Taliban, according to testimony from former colleagues, family members and documents disclosed in court on Thursday, as part of a judicial review case brought by a former member of the Triples, reveal that the government launched two investigations that examined the actions of the UKSF and the allegations of a conflict of interest at the heart of the Triples rejections.A summary of one of those investigations, known as Operation X, said it "did not obtain any evidence of hidden motives on the part of the UKSF liaison officer" and found "no evidence of automatic/instant/mass rejections" of the Triples by the UKSF - but provided no evidence to back up those instead concluded that the more than 2,000 rejections of Triples were down to "slack and unprofessional verification processes" by the UKSF liaison officer and "lax procedures followed by the officer in not following up on all lines of enquiry before issuing rejections". More than 600 of those rejections have since been Panorama reported recently that the rejection of the Triples applications had been overseen by Gen Jenkins, who was head of the UKSF at the time and was promoted last week to be the head of the Royal the court documents, the MoD said that Gen Jenkins had no involvement with the applications and that he had not appointed the UKSF officer who rejected de la Mare KC, representing the former Triple who brought the case, accused the MoD of breaching its duty of candour in the case by failing to disclose evidence of a blanket practice of rejection of the Triples further accused the MoD of providing misleading responses to requests for information. Cathryn McGahey KC, representing the MoD, told the court she did "not seek to excuse or underplay in any way the provision of inaccurate answers", and she apologised for the fact that the MoD had previously told the court that no veto case is examining whether the review of the rejected Triples applications was conducted in a lawful manner. Ms McGahey told the court that "there might have been a better way of doing it, but that doesn't make it unlawful".Daniel Carey, partner at DPG, the law firm acting on behalf of the former Triples, said: "My client spent years asking the MoD to rectify the blanket refusals of Triples personnel and has seen many killed and harmed by the Taliban in that time."He is pleased that the MoD have agreed to inform everyone of the decisions in their cases and to tell the persons affected whether their cases are under review or not, but it should not have required litigation to achieve basic fairness."
The National
23-05-2025
- The National
UK minister Al Carns brushes off Nepali investigation into speedy Everest climb
A British defence minister has dismissed claims that he is being investigated by the Nepali government for his use of xenon gas to speed up his ascent of Mount Everest. Al Carns, a Royal Marines reservist, reached the summit of Everest in five days with a group of former British special forces soldiers on Wednesday. The ascent usually takes two months because climbers stop for long periods to acclimatise to the high altitude. However, Mr Carns said he and his group were aided by xenon gas, which prevents altitude sickness. While the achievement impressed many climbers, it was criticised by the Nepali government who said they were investigating. Department of Tourism director Himal Gautam, who oversees mountaineering expeditions, said on Thursday that it had not been informed of the gas use. 'We have launched an investigation into the matter,' he told the Kathmandu Post. He added that all climbers and operators must declare the equipment, medications and substances used during expeditions. Mr Carns denied he was under investigation by the Nepali government, telling The Telegraph that he and his climbing group had inhaled the xenon in Germany weeks before arriving in Nepal. He believed the controversy was triggered by rumours that the climbers had used the gas during the ascent. He said this issue had been cleared with the Ministry of Tourism. 'There's no way I'm under investigation,' he said. He told BirminghamLive that the trail to the summit was strewn with the dead bodies of climbers. 'It brought it home, this was the death zone,' he said. Lukas Furtenbach, founder of Furtenbach Adventures which organised the climb, told The National he had not been contacted by the Nepali government about an investigation. 'There was no breach of any Nepali regulation. What happens outside Nepal should not be under the purview of the Nepal government,' he said. The gas was banned for athletes by the Worldwide Anti-Doping Agency in 2014, but this does not apply to mountaineers. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation warned against the use of xenon when the expedition was announced in January. 'There is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous,' it wrote in a statement. "Acclimatisation to altitude is a complex process that affects the various organs/systems such as the brain, lungs, heart, kidneys and blood to different degrees, and is not fully understood," the statement said, adding that the drug was "rarely" used in medicine. Mr Furtenbach said other gases, such as oxygen and asthma sprays, were also banned by the anti-doping agency but were critical to Mount Everest expeditions. 'If the government is considering banning xenon, also all other medical aids like oxygen or altitude medicine must be banned. This is obviously not possible,' he said. Nepali officials have also raised concerns about the impact on tourism if the drug becomes widely used. 'Traditional expeditions employ Sherpas, porters, guides and kitchen staff for weeks, sometimes months,' Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told The Kathmandu Post. 'If climbers finish their journey in days, the ripple effect on local employment will be devastating.' Mr Furtenbach believes widespread use of xenon could make climbing safer and reduce the environmental damage that the popular expeditions are causing to Mount Everest. 'A shorter expedition also means less garbage, less resources, less human waste in this sensitive environment,' he said. He added that Nepali guides involved in his tours would not see a reduction in salary or jobs. 'We pay them for three months in the season, even when our clients are here only for one week,' he said.
Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Times
Alistair Carns' Everest climb using xenon gas is under scrutiny
The veterans minister has denied claims that he is being investigated by the Nepalese government after using a gas that helped him reach the summit of Mount Everest in six days. It had emerged that Alistair Carns and three other former British special forces soldiers who climbed Everest on Wednesday were going to be summoned by the Nepalese government after using xenon gas. Carns, 45, a Royal Marine reservist who spent 24 years in the military before turning to politics, Garth Miller, Anthony Stazicker and Kev Godlington were part of the expedition that was the first commercial ascent to use the gas in pre-expedition treatments. The method is believed to accelerate red blood cell production and reduce the need for the usual long acclimatisation. Typically,
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Telegraph
British minister investigated over gas used for Everest ascent
A British minister is being investigated for using a controversial gas to climb Mount Everest in record-breaking time. Al Carns, the veterans minister, was part of a group of ex-British Special Forces soldiers who flew the Union flag on the summit on Wednesday, after an arduous five-day climb. An ascent usually takes around two months with traditional acclimatisation methods. The 45-year-old Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, a Royal Marines Reserves colonel and former regular who was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan, undertook the expedition with three other veterans with the aim of raising £1 million for forces charities. Their achievement stunned the mountaineering world, but has been strongly criticised by the Nepalese government, which said it was not aware the team had used xenon gas to pre-acclimatise to the thin atmosphere on the mountain. 'We are investigating the travel agency and the climbers who used xenon gas for scaling Everest,' Narayan Prasad Regmi, Nepal's tourism chief, told The Telegraph. 'We will summon them, including the British minister, and take action as deemed fit under the law,' Mr Regmi added. He said xenon gas has never been used by climbers in Nepal before, and that there was a need for a clear legislation on whether it should be banned. 'All climbers and expedition organisers are required to declare the substances and equipment they use,' Mr Regmi said. In January, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation said there was 'no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous'. 'The well-known and established methods of pre-[acclimatisation] and acclimatisation are safe and recommended,' it said. The expedition team maintains that it did not bring the gas into Nepal. The British team inhaled xenon at a clinic in Germany two weeks before the expedition to prevent altitude sickness. Some researchers claim it increases the production of a protein that fights hypoxia – a condition that occurs when the body cannot get enough oxygen. Critics say xenon's alleged performance benefits are unproven, and that it could harm the tourist industry if its use becomes widespread because climbers would spend less time on the mountain. Furtenbach Adventures, the Austria-based company that organised the climb, defended the group's use of the gas. 'Xenon improves acclimatisation, protects against altitude sickness and mitigates the effects of hypoxic environments,' said Lukas Furtenbach, the company's founder. 'It makes the climb safer and shorter while ensuring climbers are properly acclimatised, unlike those who rely solely on oxygen from Base Camp without prior acclimatisation, which is extremely dangerous. 'There was no breach of any Nepali regulation. What happens outside Nepal should not be under the purview of the Nepal government.' He went on to point out that shorter, xenon-aided expeditions had environmental benefits because they used fewer resources. To get used to thinner oxygen levels at high altitudes, climbers usually spend weeks going up and down between Base Camp and higher camps before making a push for the summit. Rajendra Bajgain, a Nepalese MP, told The Telegraph that 'the rise of short-duration climbs aided by xenon gas will hurt our mountain economy'. 'These quick summits reduce the need for local Sherpas, guides and kitchen staff, cutting off vital income for rural communities who have long depended on traditional expeditions,' he said. 'It will collapse the whole support ecosystem.' Urging the Nepalese government to ban the use of xenon, Mr Bajgain said there were 'no checklists, no oversight, and no concern for how this trend of rapid climbs, including use of helicopters, is displacing local labour'. Speaking from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu after completing the climb, Mr Carns told BirminghamLive he was 'incredibly proud' and 'feeling amazing' after breaking the record for the fastest of Everest without prior acclimatisation in the Himalayas. 'It was really tough – we walked pretty much non-stop for 55 hours, all uphill, to get to the top, but we did it,' he said. The minister described how upper reaches of the mountain were littered with bodies of those who have died attempting to conquer the peak, saying: 'It really brought it home, this was the death zone, where there is no room for error or accident.' Over 340 people have died trying to reach or return from the summit of Everest since it was first climbed by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Around 200 corpses are estimated to remain on the mountain's slopes because of the difficulties and costs of recovery missions. Mr Carns joined the Royal Marines aged 19 in 1999 and went on to serve as regular for 24 years. He completed five operational tours of Afghanistan and was due to be promoted to brigadier before leaving the forces for a career in politics. He was elected as Labour MP at last year's general election. Last July, he was appointed as parliamentary under-secretary of state for veterans and people, and in November he re-enlisted in the Royal Marines as a reservist. This week's expedition, which followed the southern route via South Col and the southeastern ridge, was the fastest ascent of Everest completed without prior Himalayan acclimatisation. The fastest climb with acclimatisation was achieved by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, who reached the summit in 10 hours and 56 minutes in 2003. Mr Carns has been contacted for comment.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Telegraph
British minister under investigation for climbing Everest using Xenon gas
A British minister is being investigated for using a controversial gas to climb Mount Everest in record-breaking time. Al Carns, the veterans minister, was part of a group of ex-British Special Forces soldiers who flew the Union flag on the summit on Wednesday, after an arduous five-day climb. An ascent usually takes around two months with traditional acclimatisation methods. The 45-year-old Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, a Royal Marines Reserves colonel and former regular who was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan, undertook the expedition with three other veterans with the aim of raising £1 million for forces charities. Their achievement stunned the mountaineering world, but has been strongly criticised by the Nepalese government, which said it was not aware the team had used xenon gas to pre-acclimatise to the thin atmosphere on the mountain. 'We are investigating the travel agency and the climbers who used xenon gas for scaling Everest,' Narayan Prasad Regmi, Nepal's tourism chief, told The Telegraph. 'We will summon them, including the British minister, and take action as deemed fit under the law,' Mr Regmi added. He said xenon gas has never been used by climbers in Nepal before, and that there was a need for a clear legislation on whether it should be banned. 'All climbers and expedition organisers are required to declare the substances and equipment they use,' Mr Regmi said. The expedition team maintains that it did not bring the gas into Nepal. The British team inhaled xenon at a clinic in Germany two weeks before the expedition to prevent altitude sickness. Some researchers claim it increases the production of a protein that fights hypoxia – a condition that occurs when the body cannot get enough oxygen. Critics say xenon's alleged performance benefits are unproven, and that it could harm the tourist industry if its use becomes widespread because climbers would spend less time on the mountain. Furtenbach Adventures, the Austria-based company that organised the climb, defended the group's use of the gas. 'Xenon improves acclimatisation, protects against altitude sickness and mitigates the effects of hypoxic environments,' said Lukas Furtenbach, the company's founder. 'It makes the climb safer and shorter while ensuring climbers are properly acclimatised, unlike those who rely solely on oxygen from Base Camp without prior acclimatisation, which is extremely dangerous 'There was no breach of any Nepali regulation. What happens outside Nepal should not be under the purview of the Nepal government.' He went on to point out that shorter, xenon-aided expeditions had environmental benefits because they used fewer resources. To get used to thinner oxygen levels at high altitudes, climbers usually spend weeks going up and down between Base Camp and higher camps before making a push for the summit. Rajendra Bajgain, a Nepalese MP, told The Telegraph that 'the rise of short-duration climbs aided by xenon gas will hurt our mountain economy'. 'These quick summits reduce the need for local Sherpas, guides and kitchen staff, cutting off vital income for rural communities who have long depended on traditional expeditions,' he said. 'It will collapse the whole support ecosystem.' Urging the Nepalese government to ban the use of xenon, Mr Bajgain said there were 'no checklists, no oversight, and no concern for how this trend of rapid climbs, including use of helicopters, is displacing local labour'. In January, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation said there was 'no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous'. 'The well-known and established methods of pre-[acclimatisation] and acclimatisation are safe and recommended,' it said. Speaking from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu after completing the climb, Mr Carns told BirminghamLive he was 'incredibly proud' and 'feeling amazing' after breaking the record for the fastest of Everest without prior acclimatisation in the Himalayas. 'It was really tough – we walked pretty much non-stop for 55 hours, all uphill, to get to the top, but we did it,' he said. The minister described how upper reaches of the mountain were littered with bodies of those who have died attempting to conquer the peak, saying: 'It really brought it home, this was the death zone, where there is no room for error or accident.' Over 340 people have died trying to reach or return from the summit of Everest since it was first climbed by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Around 200 corpses are estimated to remain on the mountain's slopes because of the difficulties and costs of recovery missions. Mr Carns joined the Royal Marines aged 19 in 1999 and went on to serve as regular for 24 years. He completed five operational tours of Afghanistan and was due to be promoted to brigadier before leaving the forces for a career in politics. He was elected as Labour MP at last year's general election. Last July, he was appointed as parliamentary under-secretary of state for veterans and people, and in November he re-enlisted in the Royal Marines as a reservist. This week's expedition, which followed the southern route via South Col and the southeastern ridge, was the fastest ascent of Everest completed without prior Himalayan acclimatisation. The fastest climb with acclimatisation was achieved by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, who reached the summit in 10 hours and 56 minutes in 2003. Mr Carns has been contacted for comment.
