Today’s Defence news includes coverage of the House of Commons Defence Committee Report on Afghan Interpreters and other Locally Employed Civilians.
House of Commons Defence Select Committee Report
There has been widespread coverage in most of today’s national newspapers about the Defence Select Committee’s report into Afghan interpreters and other Locally Employed Civilians, including The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Times, Guardian and Independent. This has also been running on broadcast and radio channels, with the Today Programme featuring an interview with retired Col Simon Diggins and BBC News ran an interview with Tom Tugendhat, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Most reporting focuses on the criticism around the Government’s intimidation policy, but the report also notes that UK’s redundancy package is ‘generous and proportionate’.
An MOD spokesperson said:
“We recognise the vital role interpreters and local staff played in operations in Afghanistan and we are the only nation with a permanent expert team based in Kabul to investigate intimidation claims.
“Our intimidation policy is designed to ensure that former Afghan local staff are safe to live their lives in the country and we provide tailored security advice and support to individuals.
“We thank the committee for their report, which notes that more than 400 interpreters and local staff have relocated to the UK with their families under another scheme, and we will now review the report and its recommendations.”
The UK Armed Forces’ contribution to peacekeeping with the United Nations over seven decades has been marked with a ceremony at the Cenotaph in London.
UN peacekeepers from 120 nations were recognised today, and tributes were paid to more than 3,700 personnel from those countries who have died while serving as UN peacekeepers.