LODON, 15 October 2021, (TON): According to the Telegraph newspaper “the Royal Air Force is carrying out secret missions to extract Afghan translators who manage to cross the border out of Taliban-run Afghanistan.”

The mission, which is understood to have started this week, could see hundreds of people who worked with British forces during the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan airlifted back to Britain.

The Telegraph did not report the specific locations of the airlifts, but Afghans have been fleeing Taliban rule toward various bordering countries, including Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Technology obtained by the Taliban stored databases of civilians working with coalition forces, raising fears of retributory violence against the estimated 300 interpreters left behind when foreign troops withdrew. Many of them were forced into hiding, changing between safe houses to hide their location.

The planes will also extract stranded foreign nationals of allied states and will land in border regions of neighboring states rather than in the larger airports of capital cities. The aircraft being used are capable of landing on rougher terrain than standard craft, including roads, desert, and scrubland.

A government source told the Telegraph “more RAF aircraft are going in to pick people up from ‘friendly’ nations. We’ll be picking up a variety of foreign nationals, ARAP (translators eligible for evacuation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy), anyone left behind.”

Another source emphasized that the government had committed to “get as many people out as possible and they will do what they can to make that happen.”