LONDON: Hundreds of former members of Afghanistan’s special forces and their families will be resettled in the UK after ministers overturned a decision by the previous government, The Independent reported.

Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard on Monday said 2,000 applicants for relocation, previously rejected by the UK, will have their paperwork reviewed once more following a Ministry of Defense review.

Many of the former special forces operatives and their families were placed at great risk of Taliban reprisal following the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan, with many forced into hiding.

About 25 percent of the 2,000 applications are expected to be overturned amid the release of new evidence demonstrating direct payments from the UK government to Afghan special forces units.

Pollard told the House of Commons: “Officials have now confirmed that there’s evidence of payments from the UK government to members of Afghan specialist units … and for some individuals this demonstrates a direct employment relationship.

“This is evidence that goes beyond previously identified top-up payments and reimbursements for operational expenses, which don’t demonstrate such an employment relationship in themselves.

“This is, of course, contrary to the position reported to Parliament by the previous government that no such evidence of direct employment existed.”

Pollard said the previous government’s position was not a “conscious effort to mislead,” but was part of a “failure to access and share the right digital records … across departmental lines.”

Some former Afghan soldiers who demonstrated ties to the UK in the wake of the Taliban takeover have been housed for years in military bases across Britain. Ministers have said they will soon be moved to appropriate accommodation.

ATHENS: Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will meet his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Athens on Nov. 8 to discuss bilateral issues including the demarcation of an exclusive economic zone, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
Greece and Turkiye, NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over matters ranging from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean, energy resources and ethnically split Cyprus.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said last week he believed relations with Greece were improving and that the Gerapetritis-Fidan meeting was aimed at finding solutions to issues such as maritime zones and airspace.
The foreign ministers have been tasked with exploring whether conditions were favorable to initiate talks on the demarcation of the continental shelf and economic zone, Gerapetritis said last month.
An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes.
A high-level cooperation council, at which the countries will assess progress, is expected to take place in Ankara in January.
Separately, the leaders of estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriots were expected to meet informally with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Tuesday.
Cyprus was split decades ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and preceded by years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been at a stalemate since.