Latest news with #Helmand
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Telegraph style book: Hh
H hang: People are hanged but pictures are hung H-bomb: Uses a hyphen, but nuclear weapon is often the better term Habsburg: Not Hapsburg hairdryer: Not hairdrier halal: Permissible under Islamic law Hallowe'en: With the apostrophe Hamas: Is a terrorist organisation. Do not call its members 'militants' or similar Hamleys: No apostrophe handover: no hyphen hardliner: Be very selective in its use hard-pressed: Is becoming clichéd and ubiquitous. Use only if all else fails hare-brained: Not hair Haringey: Is a north London borough, one ward of which is Harringay Harley-Davidson HarperCollins: One word Harper's Bazaar Harpers & Queen Harrods: No apostrophe Harvey Nichols hawks and doves: Use sparingly in descriptions of the relative levels of aggression or conciliation between two factions head teacher: two words. If a school explicitly calls theirs a headmaster or headmistress use that instead head-butt: Is tautological. Use butt healthcare heartbreak: Tabloid, avoid heart condition: Avoid. Every heart has some condition heart failure: Is often a sign of death, not its cause heart-rending: Not heart-wrenching Heathcliff heatwave: Is one word Hello! The magazine Helmand hiccup: Not hiccough Hi-De-Hi! High Church hijab: A covering for the head but not the face. Do not confuse with burka or niqab, which do cover the face hijack: The seizure of any vehicle - land, sea or air - without lawful reason. The original meaning of criminals stealing from criminals is too restrictive. Skyjacking may still be used Hindi (language), Hindu (religion), Hindustani was a pidgin Hindi used by British soldiers in India Hinkley Point C (Hinkley Point is also fine, if there is no chance of confusion with the other stations). Hinckley, Leicestershire hi-tech Hezbollah: Not Hizbollah historic: Important in history 'historic structures in Pompeii; the historic moment when the Berlin Wall fell' historical: Concerned with history or established by history. 'A historical novel, historical abuse allegations' hoard: a store of food or treasure: horde: a multitude Hobson's Choice: Is not the lesser of two evils. It is not a choice at all hoi polloi: A way of referring to common people, and an elitist term usually used by people who consider themselves to be above the masses. Hoi is the definite article, so don't say 'the' hoi polloi hold-up: For delays or crimes, but hold up as a verb Holiday, Billie Holland: Use the Netherlands unless talking about that specific region Holocaust: Cap up when used to describe the Nazi genocide. Lower case in other uses, but ensure you use it legitimately to describe mass destruction Holy Communion: Takes caps Holyrood: (One 'L') is the Scottish Parliament; Holyroodhouse the King's residence homeowner home town homeopathy homogeneous: Having the same constituent elements throughout, used for people, communities etc that have homogeneity. Do not confuse it with: homogenous, which is a form of milk homosexual: Is outdated as a noun or adjective. Use gay Hooray Henrys horrify: Use only literally, and therefore sparingly Horse Guards Parade horse riding: Just say 'riding' horsy hosepipe hotspot housebuilders Howards End Howerd, Frankie: late comedian HRH/HM as the abbreviations for His/Her Royal Highness and His/Her Majesty are styles, not titles hummus: Is food, humus is compost Humphrys, John hyperthermia: Condition of having body-temperature much above normal hypothermia: Condition of having body-temperature much below normal.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘When that data falls into the hands of the Taliban it will lead to my arrest, torture and death'
Here are the voices of Afghans whose details were included in a 2022 data leak, which was made public on Tuesday after a superinjunction was lifted. All names have been changed. Azizullah I worked with UK and coalition forces as an interpreter in Helmand and Kandahar for more than a decade. When I read the email on the morning of 15 July, I froze. It felt like my blood had turned to ice. Finding that the UK government had accidentally leaked the names and details of people like me – Afghans who had worked with British forces, who had trusted them, and who are now living in fear because of that trust. The first thing that flashed through my mind wasn't myself. It was my family. My mother, my brother, my sister, they're in Turkey right now, waiting. We've been waiting for four years under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP), sending email after email, holding on to the promise that the UK would not abandon us. And now this. This breach. This betrayal. I am the one handing their paperwork and the only one aware until now about this leak. I still haven't told them. How can I? My family has already lived through enough trauma. If I tell them what's happened, I'm terrified of what it will do to them, not just emotionally, but physically. They will break. I know it. And it's not just them. My aunt and her children are still in Afghanistan. They've worked extensively with ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) earlier and later, the coalition forces – UK and US troops both. They are in hiding now. If they are found, they will die. There is no question. We are not talking about hypothetical risk. We are talking about people being hunted, arrested, tortured, killed. And it's happening now. They are going to die in that hell unless someone acts. And let me be clear: it is only the UK government's responsibility to save them. This is their mistake. They owe us our lives. Naser I worked alongside coalition forces in Afghanistan – not just as an interpreter but also on security projects. When the chaos erupted at Abbey Gate in August 2021, I held a laissez-passer, but still, I couldn't get on any evacuation flights. Since then, I've applied again and again to the US, UK, and EU governments for help. I even risked travelling to Pakistan, waiting there for over a year with no income and constant fear. Others working with me were relocated to Germany from Pakistan. I waited and watched as one by one many of my colleagues left. But life there (Pakistan) was unbearable, and I chose to come back to Kabul, because nowhere else treated us well. I didn't even know that emails were sent yesterday. My brother got one and told me. The emails we sent with our requests over the years, our files, contained our pictures taken alongside Nato troops, our home addresses, and details of the security projects we worked on. All the information that could help us relocate was sent out. I'm terrified. How can anyone be this careless with our lives? The Taliban has been actively hunting down those who worked with UK forces. I'm not angry! I am ashamed that I put my children's lives at risk for a foreign power. My family and I have been detained multiple times over the years – my brothers, my cousins and me. Back then, at least, I hoped the Taliban didn't know everything about our past. But now? How do we protect ourselves if they suddenly produce a list? What if we deny it and they show us the proof in front of our eyes? The last 24 hours have been unbearable. Some people have received invitations from the UK government since 2022, but not us. It feels like we've been forgotten. I'm begging the UK government: don't only help those stuck in Pakistan and Iran; please help those of us you worked with who are trapped here in Afghanistan. My children, my elderly mother – they only have me. Most of my family members have already left for other countries. I am here. I'm scared and lost. They (UK authorities) told us not to reply to emails, but to use the portal instead. Four years of waiting, and still no help. What hope do we have now? We lost everything in Pakistan – our savings, our dignity. Now, with no money and no evacuation flights, neighbours pushing us out, I wonder: are we not human? Don't we deserve help? Sameem I was granted refugee status in the UK in 2013 and I have since worked as a freelance interpreter for the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence, which included training British soldiers. My wife joined me in the UK and I applied to relocate my family – my father, brother, sisters – through the Arap [Afghan relocations and assistance policy] scheme but I was told they were not eligible. But my family are at high risk in Afghanistan because of their jobs. My father was a prosecutor for the Afghan government for many years. The Taliban killed one of my brothers in 2011 and another was shot dead in front of his two children in 2021. My family has been living in hiding since the fall of Kabul. Yesterday [Tuesday], I received an email from the UK government stating that my data might have been leaked. They provided me with a link to a self-checker and it showed that it had. It's really concerning and frustrating because it means the Taliban can easily target my family now. I replied to the email saying: 'My family were at high risk back home in Afghanistan and you didn't help to relocate them, but now you've shared their data. If anything happens to them, who will take responsibility for that?' They haven't replied to my email. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The British government must now take responsibility for this breach of data. I've already lost two members of my family. I don't want to lose more. Shah I know my name is on the list that was leaked because I was notified by the UK government that my details were compromised in a Ministry of Defence data breach. My family and I, living in Afghanistan, now face an imminent threat to our lives because of this breach. I believe that when that data falls into the hands of the Taliban it will lead to my arrest, torture and death. After the Taliban took over, I went into hiding because I had an important role in the courts bringing Taliban terrorists captured by the British to justice. Family members have been interrogated by the Taliban to try to get them to give information about where I'm hiding, so it is now too dangerous for me to have any contact with them. I have moved into a safe house because of the danger I'm in. In the spring of 2023, the Taliban's interest in me increased. I believe this may be linked to the data breach. They tracked down my family but I wasn't at home because I was hiding somewhere else. Since then many members of my family have been interrogated about my whereabouts. Contrary to what the British government is saying, I don't believe the Taliban has ever lost interest in me. The worst part of all this is not knowing until this week that my name was on a leaked database that the Taliban may have had access to. Ahmad I was on my way to a doctor's appointment to seek treatment for a stress-related illness when the email from the UK government appeared in my inbox. I felt awful. I was already under immense stress due to my family's situation, but this made things worse. Between 2016 to August 2021 I worked with NDS-D011, a unit of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) that was supported by British intelligence. After the fall of Kabul and my evacuation to the UK in 2021, I submitted the personal details of my immediate family – including my parents, two sisters, and three brothers – to the Ministry of Defence as part of a family reunification application. Despite over three years passing, neither I, nor any of my approximately 120 colleagues who also relocated to the UK, have succeeded in bringing our families to safety. I am part of a group chat with these individuals, and yesterday [Tuesday], 65 others reported receiving the same email acknowledging the data breach. Last night, we all contacted our families and warned them to take extra safety precautions. None of our relatives can live freely or safely in Afghanistan. Two of my former colleagues who were unable to flee the country were arrested by the Taliban about eight months ago and remain imprisoned. The Taliban consider anyone who worked with foreign governments a traitor and punish them accordingly. Can these governments guarantee that the Taliban will stay on their promise not to target our families?
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Afghan man, 45, 'marries girl aged SIX before Taliban intervene... and say he must wait until she is NINE'
A six-year-old girl has allegedly been forced to marry a 45-year-old man in Afghanistan after she was given away for money. The haunting photo of an older man and a little girl standing together horrified even the Taliban, who intervened with the union. The youngster had allegedly been exchanged by her father for money to a man who already has two wives, it was reported by The marriage was allegedly set to take place on Friday in Helmand province but the Taliban stepped in and arrested both men involved. No charges were brought against them but they have forced the creep to wait until the girl is nine before he can take her home, local media said. UN Women reported last year that there has been a 25 per cent rise in child marriages in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned girls' education in 2021. They also said there has been a 45 per cent increase in child bearing across the country. In the same year as the Taliban came to power, after the US' heavily criticised exit, a nine-year-old girl who was sold by her father to a 55-year-old man as a child bride was rescued by a charity. Parwana Malik was sold for the equivalent of £1,600 in land, sheep and cash to a stranger named Qorban so her father Abdul Malik could pay for food. The little girl had cried day and night before her sale, begging her father instead to go to school to become a doctor. Parwana's buyer Qorban said at the time of his deal it was his 'second marriage' and insisted he would treat her well. Her father Abdul said he was 'broken' with guilt at the sale of his daughter and was unable to sleep at night. Only months before had Parwana's 12-year-old sister been sold to help the family survive. A US-based charity, Too Young to Wed, helped free the girl from the barbaric arrangement and her siblings and mother were moved from their camp to a safe house in Herat - the first time they had even been in a real home after living in tents. The horrific deal drew international outrage at the time with all 24 then-female senators in the US pushing President Joe Biden to take action to prevent child marriages in Afghanistan. Young boys have also fallen victim to the brutalities of the Taliban government, with many sexually exploited by older men and turned into sex slaves for the elite. Under the barbaric tradition of the 'Bacha Bazi', young boys and adolescents are adorned in makeup, dressed in brightly coloured women's clothing and sent before groups of powerful men to dance and entertain. Bacha Bazi, whose name translates to 'boy play', has persisted for centuries and, while Afghanistan's current Taliban leadership claim to oppose it, the practice continues as an open secret. A report released in November detailed how boys remain at high risk of commercial sexual exploitation through Bacha Bazi and 'are frequently underreported due to stigma and fear, particularly when perpetrators are police'. 'Despite the Taliban's public stance against the practice, reports suggest it remains prevalent and largely unaddressed,' the UK government report said. Survivors who have escaped speak of beatings, rape, and psychological torment, only to be cast out once they grow facial hair and are no longer considered desirable. Many turn to prostitution, drug addiction, or suicide, unable to escape the trauma they have endured. Though some boys reportedly volunteer, many are sold into this life by their own impoverished families desperate to get by. Others are quite simply abducted, including by police officers - the very people supposed to prevent Bacha Bazi from resurging. Photographs and videos that have surfaced online show boys at these gatherings, forced to perform in front of groups of men who later pass them around as objects of pleasure. Once young boys are sold by their families or abducted, many are harangued into harems and flogged by pimps and traffickers. Some boys are kept effectively as personal property, with their owners wary of allowing other men to see the children for fear they would try to steal them away. Others, however, are traded willingly as a commodity. It is widely believed that every military commander has had a young companion as part of a sick game. In 2015, a New York Times investigation revealed that child rape by government-affiliated Afghan commanders was so common that it became an open secret among US troops. But the Taliban's own morality police - the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - focus almost exclusively on policing women's behaviour, while crimes like Bacha Bazi continue in the shadows. The repeated crackdown on women's rights has snowballed in recent years, with girls banned from primary school, effectively denying all women from education across Afghanistan after it was made forbidden for them to attend secondary or higher education. The extremist government also said women could no longer teach, visit mosques, attend seminaries, funfairs, parks and gyms in a crackdown on women's rights. According to the UN, more than 70 decrees, directives, statements, and systematised practices have targeted what women can and can't do. Women have been banned from speaking loudly in their own homes, and are not allowed to be heard outside (Afghan burqa-clad women walk along a street in Kandahar) There has been a reported rise in female suicides and UNICEF said the education ban will create harrowing repercussions for generations to come. 'With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health,' the United Nations agency for children said. More than four million girls will be out of education if the ban continues until 2025. Most recently, women have been banned from speaking loudly in their own homes, and are not allowed to be heard outside, in the Taliban's latest bid to control and subjugate an entire gender. Any woman who dares to break the new rules will be arrested and sent to prison, the terror group said. Women are also ordered to cover their faces 'to avoid temptation and tempting others', and are banned from speaking if unfamiliar men who aren't husbands or close relatives, are present. The UN reported that nearly one in five women said they hadn't spoken to another woman outside of their immediate family in three months. Malala Yousafzai has since urged the world to do more to help women and girls who are forced to live under the Taliban's 'gender apartheid' in Afghanistan. 'When we look at the scale of the oppression that Afghan women are facing, there is no legal term. There is no internationally recognised crime that can explain the intensity of it,' she told The Times.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Shock as Britain turns its back on Afghans who loyally helped UK forces during two decades in Afghanistan with sudden closure of lifeline ARAP scheme
Hundreds of Afghans in line for sanctuary in Britain in return for their loyalty to the UK were 'betrayed' today when ministers suddenly cut a lifeline to help them. The Afghans, owed a debt a gratitude for working alongside British troops and officials during the UK's two decades in Afghanistan, face retribution from the vengeful Taliban warlords now running the country. The Daily Mail's award-winning 'Betrayal of the Brave' campaign led to a scheme being set up to resettle thousands of Afghans in Britain. But today, without warning, the Government suddenly closed the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) to new applicants. The decision, slipped out without any announcement, spread panic among those who had been hoping to make a new life in safety in the UK. The scheme's shock closure – from 3pm today - was confirmed in an 'explanatory memorandum' in a Home Office policy document. The decision – and lack of announcement – flies in the face of the public pledges made by former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace when he set up the scheme. Mr Wallace said in 2020: 'We want to send a message to the world that if you work with the British wherever we are deployed, we'll look after you.' Today former frontline interpreter Rafi Hottak, who was blown up on patrol with UK forces in Helmand, said he felt betrayed by the sudden announcement. 'I am deeply shocked and saddened by the news that the UK Government is scrapping the ARAP scheme – a programme that was meant to honour Britain's moral obligation to the brave Afghan men and women who stood shoulder to shoulder with British forces in Afghanistan,' he said. 'Many of these individuals put their lives on the line for the UK mission. Today, they live in hiding, facing persecution, torture, and death at the hands of the Taliban. Thousands have been waiting for years without a decision on their applications, clinging to hope that the country they served would not abandon them. That hope is now being extinguished.' Former Sergeant Major Colin Dawson, who served two tours in Afghanistan and battled to help those he worked with escape the Taliban, said : 'If we have abandoned people out there – and it seems we have – it is very wrong. We have a duty of care to these people who served with us. 'After all these years there are still people left behind who we should be helping. Many people have been rescued and we should be grateful for that but my experience of ARAP has been negative, I have tried to help one interpreter whose family is still in country – they have been beaten and abused – but ARAP has failed to reply. The last occasion was only last week. It is immensely frustration, these people are in desperate need and yet hope, it seems, is being taken from them.' Professor Sara de Jong, a founding member of the Sulha Alliance which campaigns for interpreters and those who worked for Britain, said: 'The sudden announcement that ARAP closes comes as a shock to the Sulha Alliance and our community of Afghan interpreters and other locally employed civilians. Perversely, the Government's own ARAP website has not even been updated yet and states that the scheme "remains open". Perversely, the Government's own ARAP website has not even been updated yet and states that the scheme "remains open". 'The closure is implemented in a very odd way, by adding as a criteria for eligibility that applicants must have "submitted their application before 15:00 BST on 1 July 2025".' Afghan applicants deserved advance notice of this new rule, especially as the UK Government prided itself in teaching Afghans about good governance and transparency. 'There is no information on what will happen with applicants who have submitted a request for a review of a negative decision, many of whom have been waiting for months if not years.'
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Afghans who helped America during the war plead for an exemption from Trump travel ban
U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Zachary Bennett talks with Afghan interpreter who goes by HM, during a joint patrol near Faqairan village, Nawa district, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) ISLAMABAD — Afghans who worked for the U.S. during its war against the Taliban urged U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday to exempt them from a travel ban that could lead to them being deported to Afghanistan, where they say they will face persecution. Their appeal came hours after Trump announced a U.S. entry ban on citizens from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. It affects thousands of Afghans who fled Taliban rule and had been approved for resettlement through a U.S. program assisting people at risk due to their work with the American government, media organizations, and humanitarian groups. But Trump suspended that program in January, leaving Afghans stranded in several locations, including Pakistan and Qatar. Pakistan, meanwhile, has been deporting foreigners it says are living in the country illegally, mostly Afghan, adding to the refugees' sense of peril. 'This is heartbreaking and sad news,' said one Afghan, who worked closely with U.S. agencies before the Taliban returned to power in 2021. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, fearing Taliban reprisals and potential arrest by Pakistani authorities. He said the travel ban on an estimated 20,000 Afghans in Pakistan could encourage the government to begin deporting Afghans awaiting resettlement in the U.S. 'President Trump has shattered hopes,' he told The Associated Press. He said his life would be at risk if he returned to Afghanistan with his family because he previously worked for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on public awareness campaigns promoting education. 'You know the Taliban are against the education of girls. America has the right to shape its immigration policy, but it should not abandon those who stood with it, risked their life, and who were promised a good future.' Another Afghan, Khalid Khan, said the new restrictions could expose him and thousands of others to arrest in Pakistan. He said police had previously left him and his family alone at the request of the U.S. Embassy. 'I worked for the U.S. military for eight years, and I feel abandoned,. Every month, Trump is making a new rule,' said Khan. He fled to Pakistan three years ago. 'I don't know what to say. Returning to Afghanistan will jeopardize my daughter's education. You know the Taliban have banned girls from attending school beyond sixth grade. My daughter will remain uneducated if we return.' He said it no longer mattered whether people spoke out against Trump's policies. 'So long as Trump is there, we are nowhere. I have left all of my matters to Allah.' There was no immediate comment on the travel ban from the Taliban-run government. Pakistan previously said it was working with host countries to resettle Afghans. Nobody was available to comment on Trump's latest executive order. Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press
