BBC Highlights Plight of British Council Teachers Left Behind in Afghanistan

New reporting by the BBC highlights the plight of 100+ teachers in Afghanistan who, before the regime change, had worked for the British Council. Not familiar with the British Council? It’s an entity whose goal is to “support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.”

These British Council teachers taught Afghans English as well as “the culture of the United Kingdom,” including “equality, diversity and inclusion.”

The very public work of these teachers, and their ties to the UK via the British Council, has rendered them a target under the current Taliban regime. That’s because the Taliban perceives the teachers to be U.S. spies who engaged in “unlawful” teaching that was a “betrayal of the Islamic faith.”

The UK had a special program–Afghan Relocation Assistance Policy–to help Afghan allies of the UK. But the UK government only considered applications from the British Council “office staff” (not public-facing gigs) and not their teachers (public-facing gigs). I’ve put that in bold because, wow, is that damning. Which I say as an American fully aware of the stones I’m throwing out of our nation’s red-white-and-blue-striped glass house.

On that note, the BBC’s coverage doesn’t leave the U.S. unscathed. One teacher sought SIV status in the U.S. but couldn’t get it because they’re unable to get a letter from their former supervisor who has died from Covid 19. (Side note: I recently had a fabulously engaging conversation with the inimitable Lenni Benson about the inanity of the U.S. treatment of Afghans; apparently we won’t help Afghans who fled to Pakistan to save their lives because those migrants can’t get exit visas from Pakistan because they are illegal immigrants in that country. Read that a few times and see if it makes sense. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t.)

So, how do these teachers feel now? The BBC quotes one woman as saying: “I regret it now. I wish I’d never worked for them because they don’t value our life and our work, and have been cruel in leaving us behind.”

-KitJ