Former interpreters are pleading for the Government to help evacuate their families from Afghanistan before August 31, over fears they will face danger from the Taliban.
Some 40 protesters gathered outside of the Home Office in central London on Monday to urge ministers to get everyone out ahead of the Kabul evacuation deadline, when US troops are set to withdraw.
Former Afghan interpreters protest in front of the Home Office in Westminster, central London, demanding that evacuations from Kabul continue.
Dominic Lipinski
The demonstrators held placards saying the Government had a “moral obligation” to protect Afghan allies, while others held photos showing graphic images of deaths across 20 years of conflict with the Taliban.
One interpreter told GB News "25,000 people are standing outside the airports... sleeping there for the last four or five days."
He said: “The process is very very slow.”
"I don't think they can evacuate many people before it's too late."
"The rest of many are back in Afghanistan."
Former Afghan interpreters protest in front of the Home Office in Westminster, central London, demanding that evacuations from Kabul continue.
Dominic Lipinski
"They don't live in the same house, they live in random places because the Taliban might search every single house and track people, get them out, torture them."
"I know how they torture people."
"Women won't be allowed to go out."
"I know people that have already been tracked, taken to random places, nobody knows."
"They say they take them for questioning, but they haven't returned back for three or four days."
The protest came hours after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kabul evacuation effort is “down to hours now, not weeks” as he conceded Britain’s involvement will end when the US leaves Afghanistan.
The Taliban also said any attempt to continue the operation past August 31 would “provoke a reaction” as Boris Johnson prepared to press Joe Biden for an extension to the deadline.
With the UK still hoping to evacuate thousands more people, the Prime Minister will urge the US president to delay the withdrawal of forces from Kabul airport during a summit of G7 leaders.
