Afghan veterans should be allowed to plug recruitment gaps in British Army, campaigners say

An Afghan special forces veteran trained in the UK who was left homeless after resettling here following the Taliban takeover is pleading with the government to allow him and his former colleagues to join the British Army.

Major Noor Aziz Ahmadzai is one of more than 1,400 Afghans and their families to have faced homelessness since being given sanctuary in the UK after the fall of Kabul in August 2021.

Conservative former security minister Tom Tugendhat has told Sky News the Ministry of Defence has "really let itself down" in not relaxing strict citizenship rules to take advantage of the training and expertise of Afghan exiles during a recruitment crisis in the British military.

Noor joined the special police at the age of 16 and worked as a translator for the British before joining the Afghan special forces.

He was picked to spend two-and-a-half years on the officer training programme at Sandhurst, the UK military academy.

In June 2015, he even gave a reading at a service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral in front of the Queen.

He ultimately rose to become deputy commander of a specialist counter-terrorism unit, which responded to suicide attacks in Kabul and was among the first on the scene of hundreds of incidents, including the murder of newborn babies and their mothers at a maternity clinic in May 2020, and the Taliban siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in January 2018.

"The Intercontinental hotel is one of the most famous hotels in Kabul, and they killed a lot of civilians there", said Noor.

"We had an order to respond to what was happening... we were joined by the British Army. We saved some diplomats and were able to bring them out.

"I started there at 12 o'clock midnight, and continued till 12 o'clock in the afternoon, until we finished the enemy. I lost one of my soldiers.

"He lost his life in my hug [in my arms]."

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Escape from Afghanistan

When the Taliban took back control in August 2021, it was a nightmare for Noor and his colleagues.

"It was a black day for all Afghans who worked with other militaries," he said.

Noor was initially arrested at a Taliban checkpoint as a member of Afghan special forces, but was released after a commanding officer claimed - falsely - that he had quit three months before.

He ran four-and-a-half miles home without shoes, his feet covered in blisters. His mother then took him to hide inside a water tank at his sister's house overnight, and he was rescued thanks to the intervention of a colleague from Sandhurst he contacted on Facebook.

"There was an attack on my home, and they shot my family members," Noor said. "My colleague thought I was dead.

"When I messaged, he told me he was crying that I was alive. He said, 'come to the airport at six in the morning'. Then I put on women's clothes, as the Taliban were stopping cars - but when they saw a woman in the car, they would leave the car alone.

"I used a woman's scarf on my head, and I went to the airport. He came to the gate to get me. My mum just pushed me. She said, 'get out of here', and so I didn't hug her one last time."

Noor grew emotional when talking about his mother, whom he hasn't seen since. Her request for asylum to join him in the UK was rejected, and he has only rarely been able to speak to her on the phone, given fears the Taliban are tracking their calls.

Life in the UK

Noor is one of 37,218 Afghans brought to the UK since August 2021 - their lives at risk at home due to their links with British forces.

But since the warm promises made by then-prime minister Boris Johnson after the Taliban takeover, the political situation here in the UK has grown rather more complicated.

The Afghan resettlement schemes have now closed to new applicants. Public attitudes have hardened amid rising numbers of asylum seekers, and some 7,300 more Afghans than expected have had to come here as a result of the highly damaging government data leak revealed over the summer.

While Afghans on the schemes have the right to work and are offered temporary accommodation for up to nine months, after that, for some, it's been a struggle.

Over the past four years, 1,405 households have reported themselves homeless to their local authorities.

At one point, Noor also ended up on the streets, but was taken in by a passing British veteran until he found work as a station security guard.

While he's very thankful to the UK for rescuing him and his colleagues, he now feels abandoned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

"We will never forget what the British Army did for us, they saved thousands of lives and did an amazing job," he said.

"But it's hard. My son, he will ask me, 'Dad, you did 17 years in Afghan Special Forces and what was your future when you came back to the UK?' Honestly, I don't have any answer for him.

"We have a lot of talent here, a lot of generals, colonels. They're working in pizza shops. They're working for Uber. I'm a counter-terrorism specialist. Now I'm doing a security job.

"The British Army, they spent lots of money on us. But now I don't know why the MoD are ignoring us."

Noor and many other resettled Afghan veterans would like to be able to use their skills in the British military.

But while they've been given indefinite leave to remain, they will only become eligible to apply for the army after becoming British citizens - which can't happen until they have lived here for at least five years.

'Hugely skilled and highly motivated'

Mr Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge, says it's a waste that they haven't been able to sign up straight away.

"We should be getting these people into our armed forces," he said. "They're hugely skilled, they're highly motivated, and we know they're loyal because they have proved their loyalty in the toughest and most dangerous situations.

"So getting them into our armed forces would be good for us. It would also be good for them. It would give them, quite rightly, the role that they want to have in our society.

"This is something that should have been delivered at the time and should be delivered now. It's been overlooked for too long.

"There are some exceptionally talented people, many of whom I either trained alongside or fought alongside for several years in Afghanistan, and frankly, the MoD has really let itself down on this."

Despite an era of growing international threat, the military is struggling with recruitment and retention. 500 more personnel left the armed forces this year than joined - an improvement on recent years, but still not enough to stop the shrinkage.

'An Afghan unit would be admitting defeat'

But military experts say creating a Gurkha-style unit of Afghan veterans would be complicated.

"There will be significant security implications - which can be worked through, but it would take time," said Ed Arnold, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

"There have been security incidents in the US committed by former Afghan forces. So from a risk point of view, I don't see the MoD would be too keen at the moment.

"Secondly, there is a huge cost implication to raising entire units. They need a lot of support structure. And where they integrate, it's not actually a very easy thing to do. It can be done, but it's not easy.

"Thirdly, I think that the political signal it shows is that we're choosing to raise another unit from the Afghans, because we can't get them from Britain ourselves - it's almost admitting defeat."

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "This government has committed to ensuring that all Afghans who have relocated to the UK under the ARAP scheme are supported to build their new lives.

"New arrivals on the Afghan Resettlement Programme are provided with transitional accommodation for up to 9 months, during which time they receive support to help them secure their own long-term accommodation. The government is also taking measures to minimise homelessness presentations.

"Afghans who have been relocated under this scheme are entitled to work and can access a range of employment support. Those who obtain British citizenship can apply for roles in the military, provided they meet other necessary criteria including age requirements, education specifications and medical standards."

Noor is hoping to be able to return home one day - but until then, he wants to use his hard-won skills to help his adopted country.

"My message to the British Army is - keep our talented people close to you. When you need us, we're waiting for the call. We'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder."

(c) Sky News 2025: Afghan veterans should be allowed to plug recruitment gaps in British Army, campaigners say