Afghan interpreters

About the Interpreter Agreement: see detailed timeline 2013-2017 (in Danish).
 
Danish armed forces used approximately 200 local interpreters during its operations in Afghanistan. Interpreters are very often exposed to threats, torture and executions by the Taliban, as they are considered the very worst of traitors. Many countries have therefore chosen to offer their interpreters asylum, which Denmark also did for all Iraqi interpreters when we withdrew from Iraq. But the Afghan interpreters were simply left behind.
 
By May 2013, there had been so many stories about interpreters being threatened and killed that a majority in the Danish Parliament, consisting of the S, SF, R, LA, V and K parties, passed the so-called Interpreter Agreement. Defence Minister Nick Hækkerup (S) said at the time:

“None of the approximately 200 Afghan interpreters who have worked for the Danish armed forces since 2008 will be abandoned... We are now creating a situation where we will not abandon our interpreters under any circumstances. We will take care of them, and this will be done through a wide range of solutions.”
 
The package gave Afghan interpreters the opportunity to receive local assistance or asylum in Denmark if they met a number of criteria, and the agreement was reached in collaboration with the British Ministry of Defence.
 
6 months later, the Danish Ministry of Defence had still not identified the names of the former interpreters. And it was not until a year after its adoption that interviews and case processing began in earnest by a Task Force in Kabul. The result was meagre: in December 2014, the Danish Institute for International Studies published a report showing that only 6 interpreters had been granted asylum, while 42 had been rejected. The report criticised many elements of the agreement.
 
The media, especially Politiken and Information, wrote a series of articles about interpreters who had been rejected, even though they had received threats and were forced to live underground.
 
Despite promises from several politicians during the election campaign in June 2015 to renegotiate the useless agreement, it ended up being prolonged without any changes – and remained in force until 2021.
 
When the Americans withdrew from the country in 2021 and effectively handed it over to the Taliban, it was decided that the Danish embassy would be closed. After the chaotic evacuation from Kabul, a majority in the Danish Parliament passed a ‘Special Law’ for local employees and their families, which also included military interpreters. However, many were never offered the opportunity to be evacuated or had already left the country. Those who were evacuated had to wait far too long in asylum centres, and many gave up on Denmark.

Refugees Welcome's efforts on behalf of the interpreters

We first helped an Afghan interpreter, Asif, back in 2012. He had worked for the Norwegian forces and wanted to seek asylum in Norway but was caught by the Danish authorities on the train on the way there. His application was rejected by the Danish Immigration Service, and he was only saved by our thorough guidance and one of the most skilled lawyers winning the case at the Refugee Appeals Board. During his 3 years of waiting, he helped us with translation for other asylum seekers. Several other interpreters who had worked for the Danish and American forces came. All of them were rejected by the Danish Immigration Service, but most ended up being granted asylum by the Refugee Appeals Board.
 
RW took up the interpreters’ case at the political level and wrote a series of posts about it on Facebook and in our newsletters.
 
In the spring of 2015, we were contacted on Facebook by the interpreter Naqib, who had worked for almost 2 years for the Danish forces and, before that, for the Americans. At that point, he had already been living underground for over a year, at his sister's house, without putting a foot outside. We tried to get his case reopened by the Danish Task Force but had to give up. His story made the front page of Information, and we described his entire journey on our website under the alias Rajwa. Eventually, with RW's help and the collection of an incredible amount of money for tickets, medical certificates, etc., he managed to obtain the special interpreter visa for the United States, where he now lives. Shortly afterwards, he appeared on The Ellen Show on American television.
 
Together with Amnesty International, we wrote an open letter to the parties behind the Interpreters Agreement, asking them to reopen negotiations on it and to ensure that the interpreters receive the protection they need. The Danish veterans, led by Captain Mads Silberg, collected several hundred signatures among his colleagues supporting a call to grant asylum to the interpreters who fought alongside them and who were essential to the entire effort. Despite all this, the agreement was prolonged without any changes.
 
Another of the Danish interpreters, Hector, arrived in Denmark by his own means. The newspaper Information had written about him earlier; he had been to 5 interviews with the Task Force in Kabul but had been rejected. RW welcomed him at Copenhagen Central Station in December 2015, and it was not until 6 months later that he had his first interview, followed by a second interview 6 months after that – and a few months after that, he was rejected. The wait broke him mentally; he cut himself and spoke incoherently.
 
In May 2017, he decided to return home to his young wife and 2 small children. He could not bear the prospect of another 8 months of waiting for asylum (if he would even get it) and then at least another 10 months before he could bring his family here. He would rather live with the threat from the Taliban.
 
In 2021, he contacted RW again as the Taliban was taking over power across the country. With our help, we managed to get him and his family evacuated under dramatic circumstances – including direct conversations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence – and the whole family was granted residence under the law on temporary residence permits for persons who have assisted Danish authorities, etc., in Afghanistan (the Special Law) and they were later granted asylum.
 
A third Danish interpreter, Aman, made the front page of Politiken several times. He was initially rejected by the Task Force, but was subsequently granted asylum – yet he did not receive a visa to travel to Denmark because, for unexplained reasons, he was unable to obtain approval from the intelligence service. He lived underground in Kabul for a long time, with the Danish state paying his rent. When the money stopped, he left Afghanistan and began a three-year journey via Iran, Turkey and Greece to Europe, where he ended up stuck on the border between Croatia and Bosnia. RW got back in touch with him and got both Politiken and DR to describe his situation. He managed to get to France and then on to England in a small boat, where he was granted asylum after a long waiting period.
 
RW believes that the Interpreter Agreement has failed completely in relation to its purpose: that no interpreters should be left in the lurch. Furthermore, the Refugee Appeal Board's practice is that interpreters should be granted asylum – but the Immigration Service has continued to reject their applications, even when they travelled all the way here at great risk to their lives.
 
The Special Law from 2021 should also have included the military interpreters who, many years previously, had been abandoned by us - even though they risked their lives for Danish forces. Fortunately, many of them have been granted asylum in other countries, and those who were granted residence under the Special Law have now been granted asylum after far too long a wait. But, with every new Danish military action in the world, there is a risk we will abandon our interpreters once again.