Village meeting held ahead of arrival of Afghans

Paul MacGregor said he felt reassured after the public meeting

A public meeting has been held in a Lincolnshire village ahead of the resettlement of hundreds of people from Afghanistan in the next few weeks.

The Afghans, who worked with UK armed forces in Afghanistan, are being homed in the UK to avoid persecution by the Taliban.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said about 200 Afghans, including families, would be housed at Beckingham Camp.

A meeting was held at Beckingham Village Hall on 6 November to provide residents with more detail.

The MoD said the first Afghans could start to arrive by mid November and the camp should be at capacity by early December.

It added the camp would be a transitory site so, when some Afghans move on, others may replace them.

Beckingham Camp will become home to about 200 Afghans who helped UK armed forces overseas

Paul MacGregor, who lives very close to Beckingham Camp, said before the meeting he had concerns about safety and security in his rural home.

"My concern was would we have a contact number if anything was to arise in order to rectify any potential situations," he said.

"But I've left this meeting very happy with what's happening."

Mark Iles, who served as an Army reservist in Afghanistan, said he went to the meeting to share his experiences working alongside Afghan interpreters in the war.

"I feel we do owe them a debt of gratitude," he said.

"I couldn't have done that job without the help of the interpreter and I think many soldiers who served there would say the same."

The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, two decades after being removed from power by a US-led military coalition.

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from the Afghan capital Kabul to the UK during two weeks in August 2021.

These included British nationals, as well as more than 6,000 Afghans identified as being at risk from the Taliban including female politicians, members of the LGBT community, women's rights activists and judges.

In the years since the initial evacuation, many Afghans who worked with UK forces relocated to Pakistan to escape from the Taliban.

The UK government's resettlement programme is helping some of those settle in the UK.

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