Why is it left to America to help our Afghan war hero?

Editorial: Although the pilot, forced to travel to the UK via irregular means, first made his application for asylum under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, it is the Americans who are seemingly most likely to grant his obvious case for asylum

The few simple but touching words from President Biden’s press secretary, Karina Jean-Pierre, at the latest White House press briefing, represent the best hope of justice for the airman (AFP/Getty)

“We take care of folks who helped us.” These few simple but touching words from President Biden’s press secretary, Karina Jean-Pierre, at the latest White House press briefing, represent the best hope of justice for one brave Afghan pilot currently living in Britain as a refugee – under threat of deportation to Rwanda.

Answering a query from The Independent’s correspondent Andrew Feinberg about Afghan refugees trapped in limbo in third countries, Ms Jean-Pierre confirmed that the commitment of the United States to its Afghan allies “continues to stand”: “To make sure that we take care of the folks who helped us during the longest war in this country that we have, we have seen that we have supported – and the work continues.”

In dark days for this Afghan refugee, whose cause The Independent has championed, her words gave proof that for America at least, a sense of obligation and of debts unpaid remains strong. There are now, hopefully, only practical obstacles barring the way to resettlement and a new life for this war hero – and, in due course, his family, who remain in hiding in Afghanistan.