Elite Afghan commandos ‘betrayed’ by the British and left behind to be hunted down
“I feel betrayed by the British.”
Once part of an elite Afghan special forces unit, Shaheen and his two brothers spent years fighting side-by-side with UK commandos.
But when Kabul fell to the Taliban in the chaos of August 2021, so many of his comrades were left behind. His brother Qahraman was hunted down and murdered.
“We were like one family,” he says. “I cannot bear to hear about my colleagues hiding now in Afghanistan, their lives in danger.”
Sky News can reveal that dozens of soldiers who served in two Afghan special forces units that were set up, trained and paid for by the British have since been murdered or tortured by the Taliban.
Working with Lighthouse Reports and The Independent, Sky News has verified dozens of cases in which the Taliban has targeted and physically harmed these former commandos who risked their lives alongside the British.
Members of the Triples with British veteran Charlie Herbert
Shaheen told Sky News how for years he and his two brothers were part of Commando Force 333 (CF333), an Afghan special forces unit established by the British in 2002.
His name and the name of his brother have been changed in this story for his family’s protection.
In the mid-2000s, there were still pockets of Taliban fighters dotted around Afghanistan, despite their regime being toppled by the coalition of international forces, including the US and UK.
Known as the Triples, CF333 and fellow unit ATF444 embarked on joint missions with the British to battle the remaining Taliban – and received salaries from the British government for doing so, it can be revealed for the first time.
The camp where they and British commandos were based became a home for Shaheen and his brothers, he tells Sky News.
They took pride in their work and were involved in special operations around Afghanistan, putting themselves in danger for their country.
“Although they were younger than me, my brothers and I were so close that we were friends,” Shaheen says.
Shaheen says he has lost everything
Chaos as Kabul fell to the Taliban
With the US and UK announcing they were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades, Taliban fighters swept across the country and it wasn’t long before they were at the gates of Kabul.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Shaheen says. “I didn’t go back home because I would be a top target for the Taliban.
“So for two days, I was wandering in the streets of Kabul, not knowing when I would be killed.”
Along with Qahraman and some of their comrades, Shaheen was able to get inside the airport, the last part of the city not under Taliban control. Their other brother had managed to leave Afghanistan by crossing the border elsewhere.
“The conditions were horrible at the airport,” Shaheen says. “I saw women and children being stampeded upon. People were beaten with batons, it was horrendous.”
While Shaheen was allowed on a flight out of Afghanistan, his brother was turned away.
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Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay reporting from Kabul airport in 2021
Qahraman hunted down by the Taliban
Shaheen says after Qahraman left the airport “he was observed and followed”, and went to their sister’s home.
He did not leave the house for 10 days. When he finally did, a group of people shot him.
Asked if he blames the British for his brother’s death, Shaheen says: “He did a lot of hard work for the British. When he was kicked out of the airport, he became a target.”
Now living in Birmingham with his wife and children in a cramped house, Shaheen says he is a shell of his former self.
“I lost everything,” he says.
“I don’t even have 10% of what I was. Even here, I don’t have anything to be proud of.”
Shaheen speaks to Sky News reporter Michael Drummond
‘Unjust’ reason to deny Triples entry to UK
Despite serving shoulder-to-shoulder with British troops, the majority of the Triples were not evacuated in August 2021 and have subsequently been rejected under the UK’s scheme for relocating Afghans who worked with the British – known as the Afghan Relocation and Assistance programme (ARAP).
Most have been told this is because they did not work “alongside, in partnership with or closely supporting… a UK government department” – despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
One British veteran, who served alongside the Triples for five years, said the relationship between the Afghan and UK units was a “completely symbiotic partnership”.
“We were completely embedded,” the veteran said. “We were one unit. You couldn’t work more hand in glove with the British than they did.”
Members of the Triples during training with British forces
Charlie Herbert, a former British Army major general who served in Afghanistan, said denying the Triples entry to the UK on the basis that they did not work alongside, work in partnership with or closely support the UK armed forces, is “both disingenuous and unjust”.
He added: “I can think of no other Afghan security forces who were more closely aligned to the UK than 333 and 444, nor who more loyally or bravely supported our military objectives.”
Another veteran, who served alongside the CF333s, said: “They put their lives on the line, properly fighting with us, for us. They were the national force doing the UK government’s bidding. That cannot be more aligned with the UK’s strategic interests.”
Conversations with current and former UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources suggest that the UK Special Forces department was effectively “blocking” the Triples from being accepted under ARAP.
It is unclear why.
Read more from Sky News:
Afghanistan: How the US lost its longest war
The story of how the ‘greatest military force’ abandoned Afghanistan
Taliban fighters in Kabul in August 2021 after their takeover. Pic: AP
Ministry of Defence: We have never issued blanket decisions
When approached, the MoD did not deny that UK Special Forces was refusing to approve the cases.
An MoD spokesperson said: “The UK government has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help eligible people in Afghanistan. So far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes.
“The MoD has never issued blanket decisions on applications from any cohort who have applied to the ARAP scheme. All eligibility decisions are made on a case-by-case basis against strict criteria taken in accordance with the Immigration Rules and based on the evidence provided by individuals.”
Shaheen, like so many of his surviving comrades, wants to know why they were left behind and for the apparent block on Triples applications to be lifted.
But for so many, it is already too late. They have already been hunted down by the Taliban.
“There’s a saying in my country,” Shaheen says. “On one hand, there’s a cliff – and on the other, is a tiger waiting for you, so you don’t have much choice.”
Story in cooperation with: May Bulman, investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports, Fahim Abed, investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports and Monica C Camacho, OSINT reporter at Lighthouse Reports
Additional reporting by Katy Scholes, Sky News international producer
Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to raise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza with Donald Trump during his UK state visit, after a UN Commission said a genocide was taking place.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used the president’s arrival on Tuesday night to call for action on the escalating situation, as Israeli forces advance in Gaza City.
Sky News analysis has found thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps, despite a ground offensive beginning yesterday.
Sir Ed, who is boycotting the state dinner being held for Mr Trump, said Sir Keir must “press” the president now.
He said: “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide. And the president of the United States, who wants a Nobel Peace Prize, is doing nothing to stop it.”
Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza. Pic: AP
On Tuesday, a United Nations Commission agreed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – the first time such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body.
Israel‘s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.
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Is Israel committing genocide?
‘We cannot be bystanders’
Reports suggest the situation will be a talking point between Sir Keir and Mr Trump during his visit.
It comes before the UK is due to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, along with allies including Canada and France.
In a late night statement, Canada’s foreign ministry described the Gaza City offensive as “horrific”.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed added: “We have long said that Hamas is genocidal and condemned them for their actions.
“Now, I think we have to say that what the Netanyahu government is doing amounts to genocide.”
Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, a former shadow minister, also called on her party leader to make discussing the situation in Gaza with Mr Trump a “top priority”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, she said: “We say ‘never again’ when we look at Bosnia and Rwanda, but here we are again, and it’s been livestreamed, and we’ve all seen it.
“We cannot be bystanders to a genocide.”
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‘We cannot be bystanders’
UN report pulls no punches
The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
It alleges Israel has been “killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births”.
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Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars also passed a resolution stating that Israel’s conduct passed the threshold of committing genocide.
However, a report from the British government said it had “not concluded” that Israel intended to “destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.
Nearly 65,000 people are now believed to have died, according to figures collated by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
As the Israeli army advances on Gaza City, thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps.
Sky News analysis of satellite imagery taken on Monday 15 September shows tent camps stretching across the western half of the city.
A close-up view shows one camp spilling out on to the city’s beaches.
Tents on the Gaza City beachfront on 15 September 2025. Pic: Planet Labs PBC
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault overnight on Tuesday 16 September, in what the military said was a “new phase” in its offensive.
“Gaza is burning,” defence minister Israel Katz posted on X as the operation began. “IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the offensive as “utterly reckless and appalling”, adding that it “will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages”.
Footage verified by Sky News shows Israeli tanks entering the Gaza Strip from the north overnight on Tuesday.
Israeli soldiers later filmed themselves in an area just north of Gaza City.
Satellite imagery taken a day earlier shows that while some tent camps in the area have been abandoned in the past few days, many others have not.
The IDF advance comes after an intense week of airstrikes targeting buildings in Gaza City. Sky News has verified dozens of videos showing strikes on buildings across the city.
Several of these strikes destroyed entire tower blocks, such as this strike on Al Ghafari Tower.
At least 50 people were killed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, most of them in Gaza City.
The IDF said it estimated 40% of people in Gaza City had fled south, while Hamas said that only 190,000 out of 1.3 million residents had left (15%).
An evacuation order for the entire city was first issued on 9 September, with a map on 13 September instructing Palestinians to flee to what Israel has designated a “humanitarian area” along a stretch of sandy coastline known as Al Mawasi.
Satellite imagery from Sunday 14 September shows that the area is already crowded with tents.
Tents in the IDF-designated Al Mawasi humanitarian zone on 14 September 2025. Pic: Planet Labs PBC
Last week, the UN’s Gaza humanitarian country team said that “neither the size nor scale of services provided is fit to support those already there, let alone new arrivals”.
Those fleeing south face a journey of at least 15km (9.3 miles), much of it through Israeli-designated combat zones. Local health officials said at least one vehicle travelling south from Gaza City had been hit by an Israeli strike.
Among those staying put on Tuesday was Um Mohammad, who lives in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.
“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” she said.
The IDF says the next stage of the operation will involve both air and ground forces, and that the number of soldiers involved will increase over the coming days.
Additional reporting by Sam Doak, OSINT producer.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a commission established by the United Nations.
The report claims “it is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza” and says Israel’s actions meet the criteria set down for defining a genocide.
It is the first time that such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body, and is likely to be greeted with fury by the Israeli government.
Follow live updates: ‘Gaza is burning’ after overnight strikes
Israel‘s Foreign Ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.
“Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions – and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide – released today another fake ‘report’ about Gaza,” it said in a statement.
“The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked.”
The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion. Pic: Reuters
The commission, which has been studying the conduct of Israel since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, has concluded that Israel has committed four of the five acts laid out in the Genocide Convention.
It alleges Israel has been killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births.
This final claim is linked to an attack on the Al-Basma IVF clinic, which the commission claims destroyed around 4,000 embryos and a further 1,000 sperm samples.
The report claims Israel has “flagrantly” ignored “numerous warnings” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has set out to “destroy the healthcare system in Gaza”.
It also alleges that Israeli military personnel have carried out sexual and gender-based violence, including “rape and sexualised torture”, as part of “a pattern of collective punishment”, and accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting some children “with the intention to kill them”.
Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Pic: AP
Although other UN bodies and personnel have previously linked Israel’s actions with allegations of genocide, this is the first time that any UN body has claimed to have made a definitive judgment.
“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with the Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” said Navi Pillay, the chair of the commission.
Within the report, it concludes that “Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide”.
Nearly 65,000 people are now believed to have died, according to figures collated by Gaza’s health ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
The commission claims that a majority of these are women, children and elderly people.
The commission says it is now looking at further evidence against other individuals accused of inciting genocide.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for allegedly committing the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and also for war crimes during the Gaza conflict.
Mr Netanyahu described the warrants as “antisemitic”, while a sense of outrage echoed across much of the political spectrum in Israel.
Then US President Joe Biden called the warrants “outrageous”; his successor, Donald Trump, issued an executive order to introduce sanctions against personnel from the ICC, while inviting Netanyahu to the White House.
It is hard to believe that either Israel or the US will be any more accepting of this report. Israel has long claimed that the UN is biased against it and is more liable to criticise Israel than any other nation.
Marco Rubio speaks to media as he leaves Tel Aviv for Qatar. Pic: Reuters
The US, which offered a rare, if mild, rebuke to Mr Netanyahu after he launched an attack on Hamas officials in Qatar last week, has since sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Jerusalem as a sign of solidarity.
The commission has asked for nations to stop supplying Israel with weapons and says states have a “legal obligation” to do everything within their power “to stop the genocide in Gaza”.
It also calls on Israel to immediately allow “unhindered” access for internationally recognised aid agencies, including the UN.
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Does the UK think there’s a genocide in Gaza?
It wants the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), set up earlier this year by Israel with American help, in order to distribute aid, to be shut down.
Hundreds of people have been killed around GHF sites, while a separate UN-backed body has said that parts of Gaza have been designated as suffering from famine.
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Israel denies this – a senior military leader told me that “it is a pure, total lie – there is enough food for everyone”. It claims that the UN relied on faulty data and Hamas propaganda.
This latest UN report is likely to be met with similar claims.
Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution stating that Israel’s conduct passed the threshold of committing genocide.
However, a report from the British government said it had “not concluded” that Israel intended to “destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.
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