Does Briton have a moral duty to take in as many Afghan refugees as possible?

Cossy

Just as an aside those of you that truly believe the Afghan men should stay and fight for their country ? Firstly it’s a civil war - secondly with what ??? They have no weapons - the taluban have had 20 years to accrue new a members, money, weapons etc The only others with weapons were the US and UK forces and they didn’t leave them behind !

Apparently the Taliban are using weaponry left behind by the Americans.

Chestnut

SueDonim

As Alegrias has said, much of Scotland is not suitable for habitation. On the other hand, according to media reports, there are numerous mansions standing empty in London. Let’s requisition those to house refugees.

So you want London to become a refugee camp? Or maybe you think the UK is like the tardis?

There are unused office blocks all over the country, some of which could be converted into flats.

Seeing that this is really about refugees...

GLASGOW has more asylum seekers than another other council area in the UK, according to a new study,
..
This left the South East and East of England with the lowest percentage of asylum seekers per head of population, both at 0.01%, while the North East of England had the most, at 0.19%.

www.thenational.scot/news/18025310.scottish-city-asylum-seekers-uk-council-area/

Doing our share.

Saetana

growstuff Seriously? That was the only thing you took from my post? I did not watch the entire Commons debate - frankly it was a trainwreck and a complete waste of time (as are most Commons debates if we are going to be honest) - but Theresa May can STFU. Tugendhat if I remember correctly actually served in Afghanistan he is entitled to his opinion but it is just ONE opinion. I did not hear Rory Stewart but he would be well advised to jump ship to either Labour or the Lib Dems as he is not a conservative in any way, shape or form (and that has nothing to do with this subject).

Rory Stewart is no longer an MP but he did appear on Question Time yesterday evening and knew more about Afghanistan than James Cleverly who was a total waste of space.

This is an extract from an email that has just arrived in my inbox from Crowd Justice

"Baktash* provided frontline assistance to the British armed forces in their fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. He acted as an interpreter for three and a half years for major figures such as Prince Charles, William Hague, Bob Ainsworth and Liam Fox. He also worked as a Political Officer in the British embassy in Kabul. He translated for British ambassadors during face to face meetings with the Taliban to negotiate a peaceful solution. His story has attracted widespread attention in the media.

Help bring Baktash's family to safety

Baktash and his family have been targeted by the Taliban due to his assistance and allegiance to the UK Government. The Taliban have a policy of finding those who have worked for the British government and executing them and their families. He successfully claimed asylum in the UK in 2013. However, his family remain in Kabul, Afghanistan. Recently, his family’s home was broken into and weapons were fired.

His brother also assisted the British armed forces as a labourer. He applied to be relocated to the UK but his application was rejected by the Home Office. Since then, his brother was brutally attacked in his own home, leaving him with serious head injuries. His family are a prime target of the Taliban and are living in danger."

We have already heard on the news that the Taliban are painting pink crosses above the doors of some Afghanis' homes for future reference.

I don't accept that Taliban claims that they are going to behave differently towards women than they have in the past. How can hundreds of years of education of men about sharia law be undone in a few years?

I thought the Taliban were using AK-47's

I thought the Afghans coming to this country were in dire straights and terrified of being in their own country, so why today do I see a piece about a family given refuge here who all went back to Afghanistan for a family wedding and are trapped. By our western standards their moral duty was to fight for their country they reneged on that. We have tried to give them the means to defend themselves and they have told us clearly what to do with it. Women and children have always paid the price for men fighting, human nature can't be changed.

Dinahmo
There is a very lucrative arms deal between the Russians, who send them to North Korea, who send them to Iran, who sell them to the Taliban

luluaugust. The Man's Father, a doctor, fled the Taliban and came to the UK in 1999. The Taxi driver came here with his family in 2011. So how does that fit in with your comments about I thought the Afghans coming to this country were in dire straights and terrified of being in their own country ?

If you are going to quote the Mailonline, it is bad enough without putting your own judgemental twist on it

Regarding Theresa May: I cannot stand the woman, she should have gone the way of most ex PMs and stood down at the last election. The reasons I dislike her are extensive and not directly to do with the subject at hand so I'll spare you the rant.

Getting back to the subject of Afghanistan: I read an interesting article this afternoon on the subject of yesterday's parliamentary debate, link below and its not behind a paywall.

unherd.com/thepost/the-debate-on-afghanistan-exposed-a-delusional-parliament/

This is an ultra right wing website spouting propaganda

Peter Franklin is a conservative policy and speech writer. Could find someone more neutral?

Unherd is not right wing - it is a publication that hosts alternative opinions to the swill we get fed by the mainstream media. Their writers are a diverse bunch from many walks of life - with a mixture of right, left, liberal and libertarian views - you even get the odd green popping up for time to time.

None of us are neutral on the subject of Afghanistan - regardless, can you say what he writes in the article is wrong?

Sounds just like the new tv station which no-one watches.

The ultra-right re-categorise everyone else in relation to themselves so right wing becomes left wing , they are middle of the road and Atilla the Hun is moderately right wing.

I am not sure I am judging them I am puzzled that if you have fled in fear from somewhere you would ever want to go back. I hope they do get out but what a risk to take.

Saetana

Unherd is not right wing - it is a publication that hosts alternative opinions to the swill we get fed by the mainstream media. Their writers are a diverse bunch from many walks of life - with a mixture of right, left, liberal and libertarian views - you even get the odd green popping up for time to time.

It's right wing. Only somebody with extreme views could consider it otherwise.

Saetana

None of us are neutral on the subject of Afghanistan - regardless, can you say what he writes in the article is wrong?

It's a sweeping statement to claim nobody is neutral.

growstuff

Saetana

Unherd is not right wing - it is a publication that hosts alternative opinions to the swill we get fed by the mainstream media. Their writers are a diverse bunch from many walks of life - with a mixture of right, left, liberal and libertarian views - you even get the odd green popping up for time to time.

It's right wing. Only somebody with extreme views could consider it otherwise.

Saetana thanks for posting a sensible article. I'm afraid the truth is very distasteful to some on here. Maybe only someone with extreme views could consider it right wing.

Chestnut You are right - I am so tired of people trotting out baseless phrases like "far right" and "ultra right" - I'm only surprised nobody has fulfilled Godwins Law yet

growstuff I do NOT appreciate you accusing me of having "extreme views" - you have no idea about my views! Just for the record, my politics are a mixture of centre right, liberal, libertarian and green, plus a dash of socialism. Your world view must be very simplistic.

Saetana

Chestnut You are right - I am so tired of people trotting out baseless phrases like "far right" and "ultra right" - I'm only surprised nobody has fulfilled Godwins Law yet

growstuff I do NOT appreciate you accusing me of having "extreme views" - you have no idea about my views! Just for the record, my politics are a mixture of centre right, liberal, libertarian and green, plus a dash of socialism. Your world view must be very simplistic.

Oh dear! Nothing like resorting to personal insults when you don't have a case to make! Lol!

PS. You don't appear to have much idea about my worldview.

Just assume it's different from yours.

Thinking about the accusation that the Afghan army were cowards or traitors or some such because they were unwilling to fight.

Well the scenario was this.

A foreign army had invaded your country to help you get rid of an extreme right wing version of your religion. You gladly accepted the call to be trained to form a new army to help repel the continuing threat from this fascistic threat.

Over the next twenty years the foreigners help train you and teach you modern warfare skills, but what this foreign army failed to do was to tackle the corruption in the puppet government that it helped to set up. The consequence was that you were often not paid nor was food provided - driving you in some instances to exist on potatoes. Nevertheless you bravely fought for your country suffering enormous casualties.

Then about 2 years ago the leader of this foreign army made a deal with your enemy without consulting your own leaders or government. This deal said that your supporters and in many cases friends were going to pack up and leave taking all the support you so badly relied on with them.

What this did to moral can only be imagined. You were fighting a battle that you knew that without technical support, food and pay was not sustainable. . When the time came, you learned your government had flown the country.

Cowards? Traitors?

I don’t think so. But as an Afghan I might well say that of the foreign armies in my country.

Well I listened to the whole of the Wednesday Afghanistan debate in the Houses of Parliament. It didn't sound deluded to me. It was a reasonable mix of different views - really interesting to hear from people who had worked there or who had a lot of knowledge of the place. Nobody at all thought the troops there were cowardly or not prepared to fight. Those who had worked in Afghanistan had very different stories to tell.

If you want to spend time listening to what was said, here is the link:
www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/392a628b-beda-4bc1-91df-584f2a1cdf90

Over 80 people didn't have a chance to speak.

Oh my goodness... just read the Peter Franklin piece above.
Was he even listening to the same 7 /8 hours of debate that I heard?

I know Peter Franklin is a Conservative policy adviser but what an odd twist he has on the days debate.