Translators protest at Parliament: Up to 80 Afghan interpreters join former soldiers in Westminster to demonstrate against Government's 'betrayal of families' over chaotic Kabul removal
Scores of Afghan former translators for British forces accused the Government of betraying their families yesterday, demanding it met its 'moral responsibility' to rescue them from Taliban death squads.
Up to 80 protested outside Parliament along with former soldiers, warning MPs they were in a desperate race against time.
Their families were already being threatened, and one said fighters had gone to his Kabul home on Tuesday demanding to know where he was.
Scores of Afghan former translators for British forces accused the Government of betraying their families
Sayed, 31, who worked for British forces for eight years, said: 'The Taliban has not changed. It may say it has but... when the international presence has left in a few weeks we will see the old Taliban who will hunt and kill just as they have done before.
'We are already hearing stories of killings and mistreatment of women.'
Many of the translators protesting yesterday had been helped by the Mail's award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign, and there was applause for the paper.
Protest organiser Rafi Hottak said: 'There are very few of us here who have not been helped by the Betrayal of the Brave campaign. Translators, their families and friends will never forget it. They have been our champions when others turned their backs and never given up on us.
'Without them we would not have won many battles, some of us would not be here. I know they stand with us in the difficult days ahead. They continue to raise our voice so it can't be ignored.'
Mr Hottak's brother Latif, also an interpreter, is trapped in Kabul. He told the Mail yesterday how he was hiding from the Taliban, awaiting a flight to leave Afghanistan.
Up to 80 protested outside Parliament along with former soldiers, warning MPs they were in a desperate race against time
Banners showed photographs of murdered interpreters and those still awaiting sanctuary in the UK. Rafi Hottak said if the Government failed to act immediately, it would have 'blood on its hands'. He added: 'Our message to the Government is very simple – save our families who are at risk solely because of our work for British forces. It is action we need, not fine words. The situation in Afghanistan is becoming worse by the day.
'Britain has a clear moral responsibility to act. Our families need to escape. My father and mother have been warned by neighbours the Taliban knows where they are and that their sons worked for British forces. My father has twice defied a Taliban court, so if they find him we know what will happen.'
Mr Hottak, who was in an explosion that killed a British soldier, cited the murder yesterday of the father of an interpreter for US forces as evidence the Taliban punished their families. The fathers of two British interpreters are also said to have been executed this year.
Mujtaba Raufi, 38, spent five years with the military and was helped by the Mail campaign.
He said: 'The longer the Taliban remain, the greater the danger. They will have access to files and intelligence that point to our roles. It is a race the Government must win. There are too many dead translators and families, the Taliban will not have changed.'