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- Deporting unnamed pilot would be ‘complete failure of our moral duty’: English broadcaster Piers Morgan
- War ‘hero’ Ben McBean claims ‘everyone respected’ Afghan troops who fought alongside coalition
LONDON: A top UK TV presenter and a former commando hailed as a “hero” by Prince Harry have joined a campaign to let a former Afghan Air Force pilot stay in Britain.
Piers Morgan, who hosts “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on TalkTV, told his audience during an interview with the former Chief of the General Staff Richard Dannatt that the UK had a “moral compulsion” to grant the unnamed pilot asylum, who has previously been threatened with deportation to Rwanda.
“It’s a complete failure of our moral duty as a country. This man is a hero,” Morgan said.
The pilot, who flew 30 combat missions against Taliban insurgents while working alongside British forces, was described as a “patriot” by a former US colleague.
He was told by the Home Office he may face deportation as he had entered the country illegally via a small boat crossing the English Channel and had passed through several safe countries on his way to Britain from Afghanistan.
Morgan, whose brother served as a colonel in Afghanistan, added: “I think this is a really important battle. It may be one man, but it represents a large number of people who sacrificed a lot, many of them sacrificed their lives.
“And he can’t go back now because the Taliban would hunt him down and kill him and he must be terrified that’s going to happen about what’s going to happen. We’re going to keep hammering away at No. 10.”
Dannatt said he would be “very surprised if (Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak or (Defense Secretary) Ben Wallace didn’t push this through,” adding, “the thought he could be extradited is appalling. They should use their discretion now and quietly announce his family will come too.”
Dannatt is among 50,000 people to join a campaign launched by the Independent newspaper in support of the pilot. Air Marshal Edward Stringer, the former head of RAF forces in Afghanistan, ex-NATO chief George Robertson, and British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer have also joined the cause.
Former Royal Marine Ben McBean, a double amputee following critical injury while deployed in Afghanistan in 2008, has also backed calls for the pilot to remain in the UK.
McBean, described as a “hero” by Prince Harry, said: “Anyone who went against them (the Taliban), who was on our side, everyone respected them — Afghan national army, Afghan national police, Afghan Air Force. Some of the elders that we used to speak to who were fighting for their land, everyone respected them.
“And if you said, would you mind if they came here to get a new life now because they’re in danger over there? I don’t see why anyone would have an issue with that.
“Because of the way that we just left, people have been left behind, forgotten about, they are in hiding, so it is almost impossible for them to get here safely. It doesn’t surprise me what’s happened, unfortunately,” he added.
Gen. Richard Barrons, a former chief of joint operations who served in Afghanistan, said it was “not surprising” the pilot had to travel to Britain illegally “considering the mess the (UK) government made with the evacuation process.”
The pilot previously told the Independent he had been left with no other route into the UK other than the one he took after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021.
“What safe and legal way was there after the fall of Afghanistan? You entered Afghanistan on the first day as a friendly and brotherly country, and now this bad day has come upon us. (The UK government should) keep the promise of friendship and cooperation that you made, and fulfil it,” he said.
“The American and British forces have forgotten us. We worked with them, and we helped them like they were our brothers. We are not Talib, we are not (Daesh), so why are they leaving us like this?”