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

Nanashirlz what an appalling thing to happen, but sadly the sort of scum that commit crimes like that are indiscriminately scattered across all ethnicities and most are born and bred British. Illegal presence in this country is not a necessary qualification for committing such crimes.

The difficult thing at present is for even those Afghanis with a right to refuge in this country, they often do not have the necessary paperwork when they arrive.

The terrible conditions many were living in before the events of recent weeks - moving from house to house, hiding from those who wish to kill them, the difficulty, as a result of receiving papers, the dreadful scenes of threats and violence on the way to the airport, mean that many arrive at the airport without papers of any kind, barely the clothes they stand up in.

Now we have the government saying they will not accept Afghanis who worked for the british, but via contractors. I despair of this despicable government.

I have written to both my current and previous conservative MPs on this subject several times and not once have I received anything but an automatic acknowledgement to my queries.

Yes but only the ones with proof of who are. Not an illegal immigrant. My 76yr aunt was rape by 2 of them.

Welshwife

When did needing to resign for lying to parliament change?
John Profumo resigned not because of his affair with Christine Keeler etc but because he lied about it in the HoC. He was an honourable man in that sense and his wife - Valerie Hobson - stuck by him.
Bring back those old days!

Johnson had to resign years ago when he lied to Michael Howard about the allegations of mistresses and several abortions.

When the fifth horseman came on the scene?

When did needing to resign for lying to parliament change?
John Profumo resigned not because of his affair with Christine Keeler etc but because he lied about it in the HoC. He was an honourable man in that sense and his wife - Valerie Hobson - stuck by him.
Bring back those old days!

@Whitewavemark2. Thinking about the accusation that the Afghan army were cowards or traitors or some such because they were unwilling to fight.

Agree with everything you said in this post. The American withdrawal after 20 years of providing support, training and weaponry, must have been devastating to the Afghan army’s morale. Just learning on the news now, that the official Taliban ‘negotiator’ is a terrorist linked to Al Qaeda, on America’s most wanted list, and was the instigator of demand that the Afghan army ‘surrender’.

Actually MerylStreep that’s a good question. It’s easy to say what we’re doing wrong. Harder to say how you could do it. Thanks for the links Callistemon.

They are doing their best under the most extreme of circumstances:
news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-british-soldiers-rush-to-aid-baby-in-blistering-heat-at-kabul-airport-12386254

Evacuation of foreign nationals and their Afghan staff by country 2 days ago:
www.reuters.com/world/evacuations-afghanistan-by-country-2021-08-18/

Anyone got any ideas?
I’m sure they would be welcome. The airport is surrounded.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9913271/Our-boys-stand-Kabul-British-paratroopers-desperately-hold-line-Afghanistan.html

varian

We should all know by know that our government is totally corrupt and they lie and lie and lie just like they did five years ago to win the fraudulent referendum..

Yup, and they don't even pretend to tell the truth anymore, knowing that their supporters will defend them come what may. Irrespective of the fact that they are Tories, and with the exception of the few who, in the last few days, have put their moral code before their careers, this government is shameful, a disgrace to its name, liars, cheats and totally unfit for office. Anyone who thinks they are doing a good job in any area of the administration has got very different standards, different expectations of behaviour to me and mine. Raab has lied repeatedly, but nobody seems to care. I am not surprised, but I do care. As for Johnson, well, I think my opinion of him is very well documented.

We should all know by know that our government is totally corrupt and they lie and lie and lie just like they did five years ago to win the fraudulent referendum..

But that is not the point in question as I see it. The Defence minister said planes were not leaving with empty seats. ~They were.
I am convinced that ministers have a set script sent out each morning to which they must rigidly adhere . Perhaps they should be left to answer for themselves.

Alegrias1 it is the Taliban surrounding the area that is preventing people reaching the airport, they really are the ones to blame.

U.K. paratroopers are doing their best, they are leaving the airport compound to help people.

I agree that planes taking off with empty seats is criminal considering the circumstances in Afghanistan.

The U.K. Defence Secretary was speaking about U.K. planes, he doesn’t have the authority to speak for other Countries and their evacuation flights.

Not blaming the UK particularly. Contrary to popular opinion I don't think the UK is the Evil Empire. I'm pointing out he fact that our Defence Secretary said there were no empty planes and one (nearly empty) plane left Kabul.

Any weasel words about how it wasn't a British plane will fall on deaf ears, I feel.

In times of crisis, most people wouldn't care if you were British, Norwegian. Afghan or Klingon. If there are seats available, get people into them.

Alegrias1

There are millions of people trying to leave but they couldn't find enough to fill a plane? They couldn't expedite the paperwork to get people out?

I'm not convinced. No excuse.

Not sure if you are blaming the U.K. for the Norwegian plane not being full or the Norwegians?

There are millions of people trying to leave but they couldn't find enough to fill a plane? They couldn't expedite the paperwork to get people out?

I'm not convinced. No excuse.

I should imagine that if a plane has a take-off slot it has to use it or risk waiting for as ever long as the next available slot.

The Norwegian plane was not empty, it was just not full, slight difference.

Oops - correct links this time.

19th August: No empty planes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58266555

20th August: Picture of empty plane. www.standard.co.uk/news/world/flight-leaves-afghanistan-empty-attempts-evacuate-b951540.html

19th August: No empty planes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58266555

20th August: Picture of empty plane. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58266555

Not a single plane has left Kabul in 8 hours.

The situation is simply getting worse and worse.

A report in the Guardian today from a correspondent in Berlin.

"Taliban fighters trying to track down western-affiliated journalists allegedly shot dead a family member of an editor working for Deutsche Welle and seriously injured another, the German public broadcaster has said.

The state-owned broadcaster said the Taliban had carried out house-to-house searches in western Afghanistan to try to find the journalist, who had already relocated to Germany.

Other family members managed to escape at the last minute and were now on the run, a Deutsche Welle spokesperson said."

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.

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.

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.