Afghan ex-soldiers forced to split families as UK resettlement costs soar

Farhad, who served alongside British forces, spent weeks hidden in a hotel in Dushanbe with his 17-year-old and nine-year-old daughters and a four-year-old son while awaiting a UK resettlement ticket. After the Ministry of Defence reversed its promise to evacuate families directly, he was told to travel to a third country, incurring $750 monthly hotel costs and $1,050 visa fees per child, which he financed through loans from friends and former comrades.

He finally arrived in Britain on a MoD-funded flight with three children, but his wife and three teenage sons remain in Afghanistan because he could not afford to bring them all. The UK’s self-move policy has left an estimated 3,000 approved Afghans stranded, with visa fees now near $2,000 and many families forced to split. MPs such as Tan Dhesi have criticised the approach, urging the government to provide financial and logistical support. Similar stories from other former Afghan security personnel highlight the risk of deportation, police extortion in Tajikistan, and the threat of Taliban retaliation.