An ex-SAS officer who fought the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan has backed Nigel Farage’s plan to strike a deportations deal with the Islamist regime.
Mr Farage unveiled plans on Tuesday to deport 600,000 illegal migrants, and striking a deal with countries like Afghanistan would be a part of that.
Such a move would likely require the British Government to pay the Taliban to incentivise them to accept returns, something other countries like Germany have already done.
Speaking on GB News, Matthew Hellyer, who served in more than 400 missions spanning 25 years of military service, said it is a move Mr Farage is right to pursue.
Mr Hellyer spent time in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban
|GB NEWS / PA
“I’m not concerned about making a deal. The people we fought are a different Taliban to what they are now”, he explained.
“We need a deterrent to stop illegal immigration. Each community is paying for illegal immigrants. It needs to stop. We need this deterrent.
“It happened in Germany. If it means speaking to the Taliban to ensure illegal migrants are deported back to their country of origin, it needs to happen.”
GB News host Alex Armstrong put it to Mr Hellyer that pumping money into the Taliban's coffers could mean the British Government is funding a new generation of terrorists.
The Taliban has said it is 'ready and willing' to work with Nigel Farage on Reform UK’s deportation plan
| GETTYHe brushed off those concerns, pointing to the Taliban's claim that it would not accept money, just aid.
“We should be helping the poorer countries, but we should not be accepting their illegals”, he said.
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“When you look at the boats coming from France, they are 90-95 per cent male. The British public are sick of this. They are paying for it.
“They need to be housed in military camps and processed immediately. If they are not here legally, they need to be deported.”
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The war hero told GB News the Taliban is “different” to what it once was, adding it was once a “brutal” regime.
“They want money and they’ve come to us for assistance. We don’t want to be funding extremism but let’s give them aid”, he said.
The Taliban indicated that it would not take money directly but would instead accept aid to support returning migrants.
The group also insist that they would be treated “with dignity”.
Matt Hellyer spoke to Alex Armstrong about the radical plan to deport hundreds of thousands
|GB NEWS
The incumbent Labour Government also appears receptive to the idea of striking a deal with the Taliban, following up Mr Farage’s speech by confirming “we’re not going to take anything off the table”.
A Home Office spokesman also said: “While conditions in certain countries will often make returns challenging, we continue to work tirelessly to remove those with no legal right to be in the UK.”
Last month, Germany continued deportations to Afghanistan despite Berlin not officially recognising the Taliban government, a stance mirrored by their British counterparts.
It comes as Labour continues to fan the flames of Mr Farage who is consistently outperforming Keir Starmer in the polls.
A fresh YouGov poll for Sky News handed Sir Keir’s party 20 per cent of the vote compared with Reform’s 28 per cent.
Labour remains decisively ahead of the Tories, however, who sit on 17 per cent of the vote.