As an Afghan Army commander, Ahmad led hundreds of troops fighting against the Taliban with his British allies. Now in the UK, he’s jobless, his kids are out of school, and homelessness looms.
Two years after being evacuated, first to Southwark, he and his family are stranded in a Manchester hotel.
And 8,000 other Afghan refugees, who fled their homeland after working with Britain to secure peace in the region, face a similar predicament.
Ahmad didn’t want to be interviewed or give his full name for fear of reprisals. But he was happy for us to mention his situation to highlight the problems his compatriots have faced since arriving in the UK.
Camberwell resident Hadi Sharifi, founder of the Panjshir Aid, a charity advocating for Afghans in the UK, says the commander’s case typifies the Afghan experience of the UK – one of betrayal.
Hadi Sharify with former councillor Alice McDonald (left) and local MP Neil Coyle (right)
Ever since the Taliban victory, Hadi, who works as an aerospace engineer, has been helping his compatriots integrate into UK life. Staying in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban was not an option for the 24,000 who were guaranteed safety in the UK.
These were people who worked for the British government and faced persecution by their new Taliban overlords should they remain in the country.
As a hotbed of extremism, bringing stability to Afghanistan was seen as pivotal to preventing terrorism in the UK. So to thank Afghans for their service, the UK set up the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme and the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
The 24,000 people who have come to the UK are a fraction of the 300,000 people who were affiliated with the Allied mission in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years between 2001 and 2021. They were always guaranteed safe passage out if Afghanistan fell to the Taliban – and it did in the summer of 2021.
“Some of these people have survived two or three blasts, some of these people are disabled, some still have shrapnel in their bodies, some have carried body parts – all while protecting UK interests and working alongside British troops,” says Hadi.
“With the trauma they’ve had, they’re still seen as a burden.”
The UK government’s support package, dubbed ’Operation Warm Welcome’, promised to give families the support needed “to fully integrate into society”.
But now, one-year-and-a-half since the Taliban victory, 8,000 people – a third of those evacuated to the UK – are still holed up in ‘bridging hotels’ around the country.
Most of the refugees, like army commander Ahmad, are here with their families and are being shunted from hotel to hotel.
Unlike many asylum seekers, Afghans who arrive under these schemes are allowed to work in the UK. But without a permanent address, many have struggled to get jobs. Even living with a British sponsor, like many Ukrainian refugees, would it make it easier.
Hadi can’t help but compare their treatment to that of Ukrainians, whom he says were “treated like royalty”. While the Homes for Ukraine scheme has seen 153,000 refugees welcomed into British homes, no such scheme was ever established for Afghans.
Hadi Sharifi was born in Afghanistan but fled to the UK in 2002. Family members had died fighting the Taliban and he came to the UK as a refugee.
For a number of years Western forces made the country safe and Hadi was able to return to visit family, but when Kabul fell in August 2021, he was once again caught up in the conflict. For several days, the world was stunned by footage emerging from the Afghan capital – particularly around the airport.
Viewers watched as huge crowds of desperate people jumped the airport’s walls and flooded the runways, desperate for a route out of the country. Arguably the most shocking videos showed people clinging to the outside of planes who, despite the certainty of death, held on as they climbed higher into the sky, before dropping off.
Clutching eleven passports belonging to his wife, children and wider family, Hadi was in that crowd. It took him ten hours but, eventually, he reached American troops inside the airport who evacuated him and his family.
Once back in the UK, Hadi sprang into action. He helped over 60 families, comprising over 250 individuals, integrate into life in Southwark. With assistance from local MP Neil Coyle, Southwark Council, and other local organisations, he helped the refugees get health checks, enrol in schools, look for work, and meet the Afghan diaspora already living in Southwark.
Attention quickly turned to the task of housing these 60 families in permanent accommodation. The Home Office’s plan was to house families in ‘bridging hotels’. In Southwark, these were hotels in Waterloo, by Blackfriars Bridge and in Bermondsey.
Given the UK housing crisis, it was never going to be easy, but Hadi said the Home Office’s handling of the situation was “a mess”.
“It was in such a mess that some families received four or five offers that they didn’t accept whereas other families even now haven’t even received a single offer,” said Hadi.
Some families found suitable homes and relocated to different places across the UK – sometimes as far as Nottingham and Wolverhampton. But they were the lucky ones.
The Home Office originally told Afghans not to search for homes through the private market and that it would, instead, send housing offers. But many families didn’t receive any offers for months and some still haven’t.
Eventually, the Home Office said Afghans could go through the private market. But Hadi says landlords routinely refused their applications because the refugees often didn’t have permanent addresses, full-time employment or were receiving benefits.
This was exacerbated, Hadi says, by a heavily bureaucratised process, which slowed down applications and put landlords off. Often, families couldn’t afford deposits.
“We’d send applications for thousands of properties and never get replies back,” Hadi said. So while families wanted to escape hotels, and begin their new lives as quickly as possible, many simply couldn’t.
Hadi says Afghans’ predicament deteriorated further when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Once stalwart support melted away as money, resources and minds turned to a conflict seen as ‘closer to home’.
“The focus shifted to Ukraine and I didn’t hear anything from Southwark Council representative for months. Sometimes there were emergencies and my emails were not getting replies. Support just completely vanished.”
Hadi points out that while the UK government established the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, where households were paid to house refugees, no equivalent scheme was ever established for Afghans. This is despite the fact that significantly fewer Afghan refugees (24,000) than Ukrainian refugees (163,500) have required accommodation.
“I empathise with the people of Ukraine. They must have been through a lot,” says Hadi.
“But they were treated like royalty. They were welcomed with open arms, open doors whereas the Afghan families were seen as a burden on society.”
In March 2022, the think tank British Future urged housing secretary Michael Gove to establish a Homes for Afghans scheme. Their letter, signed by cross-party MPs, including Conservatives, said it was “impossible for people to rebuild their lives while still in temporary hotel accommodation”.
Asked why a Homes for Afghans scheme was never introduced as it was for Ukraine, Hadi said: “They’re white. The Afghans and every other nationality were seen as an enemy rather than as refugees… whereas Ukrainian people were seen as a friend.”
The Home Office did not provide an explanation as to why such a scheme was never established.
Last month, in stark contrast to the rhetoric that accompanied ‘Operation Warm Welcome’, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer, said any refugee who turned down an offer of accommodation would not be offered a second alternative.
But Hadi says this rhetoric is misleading and some families still haven’t received a single offer of accommodation.
All Afghans who arrived in Southwark have either been rehoused or, in many cases, moved to hotels elsewhere in the UK. “We will see a lot of homeless application in local authorities where bridging hotels are,” Hadi warned.
When former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced ‘Operation Warm Welcome’ he said: “We will never forget the brave sacrifice made by Afghans who chose to work with us, at great risk to themselves. We owe them, and their families, a huge debt.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Hotels are not, and were never designed to be, suitable long-term accommodation for Afghans resettled in the UK. That is why we have announced a plan, backed by £285 million of new funding, to speed up the resettlement of Afghans into long-term homes.
“Where available, the Government will continue to make offers of suitable housing, which we strongly encourage Afghan families to accept. Where an offer cannot be made or is rejected, increased government support is available to help Afghans find their own homes and begin rebuilding their lives here.”
Councillor Jasmine Ali, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Refugees, said: “The London Borough of Southwark has a long and proud history of supporting people fleeing persecution overseas.
“We do everything that we can to support all refugees and people seeking asylum, in every way we can.
“We took immediate action to help as soon as we got the call from the government to urgently implement a national refugee resettlement programme for people fleeing Afghanistan.
“In this case, two resettlement workers were on hand to act as a contact person for each hotel, both are Afghans themselves and proficient in both Dari and Pashto, and were based at the two hotels full-time. Panjshir Aid worked well with them and they were available throughout the period the hotels were open, including for any emergency, until the point of closure (by the Home Office) of the hotels in Southwark.
“We are very grateful for all the efforts Hadi and his volunteers put in to ensure that our guests were well supported in their time here.”
“Southwark will always stand ready to play our part in resettling those who need sanctuary.”