Murdered, Tortured or in Hiding From the Taliban: The Special Forces Abandoned by Britain
The Independent and Lighthouse Reports
The investigation focused on former members of two units that were set up, trained and funded by the British, yet were denied relocation to the UK – with devastating, and often fatal, consequences.
The team tried to track down as many of the Triples as possible, reaching out to individuals and documenting what had happened to them since the Taliban takeover in summer 2021. Most remained in Afghanistan and were living in deep hiding. Some had been captured and tortured by the Taliban. Some revealed that colleagues had been killed.
Verifying these cases of harm was challenging, particularly given the absence of police reports or death certificates in Afghanistan and limited visual evidence, as well as fear of speaking out against the Taliban. But by gathering as much visual evidence as possible – often of injuries and corpses – and using open source intelligence (OSINT) methods to corroborate this with testimony from victims and witnesses, we were able to verify to a high degree of certainty 24 cases of harm. Six of these were murders.
The other crucial element of the investigation was persuading current and former MoD personnel to speak about the partnership between the Triples and UK special forces. The team established trust with sources who confirmed that the Triples were paid a salary by the UK government – something previously shrouded in secrecy – and we obtained documentary evidence of this. We also used OSINT to dig out hard-to-find British Army manuals and other documents that detailed the Triples’ close partnership with the UK.
As a result of our investigation, there has been extensive debate in parliament about the plight of the Triples. Labour (former) shadow ministers wrote to the government twice to raise the findings of our reporting. Former defence minister James Heappey, veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer, immigration minister Robert Jenrick and foreign secretary David Cameron all faced questions about the Triples from the dispatch box, including from Conservative MPs and peers.
Our investigation has also been cited in submissions to the High Court to help Triples veterans fighting their refusals of help. A YouGov survey carried out following publication showed that 51 per cent of Britons believed CF333 members should be allowed to settle in the UK.
The story was picked up by other British and Afghan media, culminating in the government admitting that they had made incorrect decisions regarding the Triples’ applications for relocation. They are now carrying out a review of some 2000 applications and looking to relocate those found to be newly eligible from Afghanistan.
Our reporting also informed an amendment to the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which sought to exempt Afghan veterans who served with the British from deportation to Rwanda.