Army vet claims he lost family home to make way for wave of secret Afghan migrants

A British Army veteran has claimed he lost his military accommodation to make way for Afghan migrants. Andrew Cook said he served seven tours before he was discharged for medical reasons.

Mr Cook said as part of Army efforts to smooth the transition from military to civilian life, veterans are offered resettlement packages. He claimed that this includes the possibility of retaining service family accommodation.

He told GB News that he applied in May 2023, but his application was rejected. Mr Cook said in September 2023 Afghan nationals arrived at the estate where he and his family lived. He claimed this is what led to his being moved out, leaving "any options of support gone".

The veteran suggested there was little preparation for the new arrivals, with no plan to integrate them.

Under existing rules, veterans may be allocated surplus service family accommodation if they retire or are made redundant. Veterans can live in this type of accommodation at market rates for no more than 12 months while they look for a new home.

The Ministry of Defence said it cannot comment on individual cases. It added that parts of the MoD estate have been used to offer transitional accommodation to those relocating from Afghanistan.

This has included military barracks and "transitional" service families accommodation. The process of returning such accommodation on the defence estate to its original use has begun and will continue over the coming months.

A MoD spokesperson said: "This Government is committed to renewing the nation's contract with those who have served and is delivering at pace on veterans' housing, including removing the local connection requirement for veterans seeking social housing in England and providing an extra £3.5million for homelessness services.

"The Prime Minister announced new legislation to put the Armed Forces community, including veterans, at the heart of Government decision-making. And we are creating Op Valour, a first-of-its-kind, UK-wide support system, to ensure Veterans have access to joined-up health, housing and employment services, regardless of where they live."

A source at the MoD said the aim is to return sites currently being used to house Afghans to their original defence use before the end of this year.

Families already in leased, "settled" service family accommodation will be allowed to stay until the end of their contracts. Under reforms, the MoD will be ending use of the defence estate for Afghan resettlements, according to the MoD source.

The whole Afghan migrants saga was triggered by the chaotic Western exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Taliban swept across the country, seized Kabul and reimposed their strict version of Islamic law.

Afghans who had served alongside Western forces or who had served in the internationally backed Afghan army were at risk of retribution.

Britain set up a scheme, known as the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, or ARAP, to bring some to the UK.

In February 2022, a defence official emailed a spreadsheet containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 ARAP applicants to someone outside the MoD.

The Government has said the individual thought they were sending a list of about 150 names, not the whole set.

Officials only became aware of the leak when a section of the data was posted on Facebook 18 months later by someone who threatened to publish the whole list.

The leak sparked alarm among British officials who feared as many as 100,000 people were in danger when family numbers of the named individuals were added. The then-Conservative government sought a court order barring publication of the list.

A judge granted a sweeping order known as a super injunction, which barred anyone from revealing not only information about the leak but the existence of the injunction itself.

Afghans on the leaked list who were judged to be most at risk were brought to Britain. To date, some 4,500 people - 900 applicants and about 3,600 family members - have arrived in the UK under the scheme.

About 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the time it closes, at a cost of £850million. In all, about 36,000 Afghans have been resettled in the UK since 2021.