Bracknell Forest Council had agreed to resettle families fleeing war-torn Afghanistan.

Men, women and children have been fleeing from Afghanistan after a troop withdrawal of NATO forces was exploited by Taliban forces to retake the country.

Events have sparked fears of reprisals against Afghans who supported NATO forces as interpreters and in other capacities, and against women and children.

This week, the Government announced it would allow a total of 20,000 Afghans to resettle in the UK, with 5,000 being rehomed in the first year of the scheme.

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Bracknell Forest Council has agreed to resettle two families in the area as part of a resettlement scheme called the Afghan Locally Employed Staff (LES) scheme, which rehomes Afghanis who have worked for the UK and risked their lives alongside British forces in the country over the last 20 years.

Councillor Dale Birch, the council’s executive member for adult services, health and housing (Conservative, Little Sandhurst and Wellington) said: “Bracknell Forest Council is committed to supporting the LES Afghan Resettlement Scheme and, as part of this commitment, we will house and support two families from mid-September.

“Details of any additional or new scheme to help people from Afghanistan owing to the recent Taliban coup will be decided by central Government and have not been made available to us locally yet. Once we receive any information we will look closely at what additional support we can offer.”

The Afghanistan LES scheme, part of the Government’s Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP), was established in 2013.

The LES scheme is separate from the recently announced Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme, which will allow a total of 20,000 Afghans to resettle in the UK, with 5,000 being rehomed in the first year of the scheme. The new resettlement programme is not operational yet and was announced on Wednesday, August 18.

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A total of 457 members of the British Armed Forces were killed in operations in Afghanistan during the war, which began in 2001. Eight soldiers from Berkshire were killed in Afghanistan and the later war in Iraq, which began in 2003.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service interviewed British Army veteran and Bracknell resident David McMullen about the conflict earlier this week.

British troops, along with American and NATO allies, invaded Afghanistan as it was suspected that Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda, was being harboured by the Taliban.

Osama Bin Laden was eventually assassinated by US Special Forces in Abbotabad, Pakistan in 2011.

* An earlier version of this story asserted that Afghans were being resettled as part of the Government’s recently announced scheme to rehome Afghan families in the UK. Instead, the two families that will be rehomed in Bracknell Forest will be allowed in as part of the LES scheme, which explicitly relates to Afghanis who have served alongside British Armed forces.