����ý

Partners and children separated from their families during the evacuation of Afghanistan can now apply to join them in the UK, under plans announced by the government.

It comes three years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, which led to a military operation to evacuate British nationals and Afghans, known as Operation Pitting.

A number of families became separated due to the speed and chaotic circumstances surrounding the evacuation.

On Tuesday, the government announced the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) separated families route had opened for applications for the next three months.

The route is open to the partners and children of people who escaped from Afghanistan under legal routes previously set up by the government.

Children who were evacuated without their parents can also apply for them and any siblings who were under the age of 18 at the time of the evacuation to come to the UK.

The Home office said additional family embers may be considered in exceptional circumstances.

The Refugee Council charity said the development was "hugely welcome" and would be "life-changing" for children and parents who had been separated for such a long period.

The pledge to reunite families separated during the evacuation of Kabul had been made under the previous Conservative government and Labour said it was now "implementing that commitment”.

The latest figures, published in May, show that almost as many Afghan nationals arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats, as through the government's legal routes in the year to March.

A total of 5,662 Afghan nationals made the dangerous Channel crossing in that period, plus 350 of what the Home Office described as inadequately documented air arrivals, making a total of 6,012 people.

Data also shows that 758 lone Afghan children were recorded as applying for asylum having crossed the Channel.

The charity Safe Passage has also welcomed the opening of the family reunion route, but said these schemes had been "too slow, restrictive and currently have too few places”.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Seema Malhotra said: "It is our moral duty to ensure that families who were tragically separated are reunited and are not left at the mercy of the Taliban."

She added: "Afghans did right by us, and we will do right by them, ensuring our system is fair and supports those most-at risk and vulnerable."

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from Kabul to the UK over two weeks in August 2021, as the capital fell to the Taliban.

These included British nationals, as well as more than 6,000 Afghans identified as being at risk from the Taliban, including female politicians, members of the LGBT community, women's rights activists and judges.

It is this group that are eligible for the new family reunification route.

Thousands more Afghans who worked with the UK government in Afghanistan, along with their family members, have been relocated under the separate Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).