Britain faces an agonising choice after Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown left thousands of Afghans who worked with US forces stranded in Pakistan.

1,500 Afghan refuges have appealed to Britain for help after seeing their chances of being able to resettle in the US dashed following the election of Trump who has suspended the US refugee admissions programmes and cancelled all refugee flights into the country.

Britain has so far refused to offer sanctuary to those left in limbo in Pakistan, many of whom served with western forces during the two-decade war in the country, according to the Telegraph.

The threat of retribution if they return to Afghanistan combined with the worsening of conditions for Afghan refugees in Pakistan has left former allies feeling “trapped” and “at risk”.

Masood Jan, who worked with the US military through ANHAM FZCO in Kunduz and for the UK’s ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) as a private contractor had been due to fly to the US this month until the policy change.

He told the Telegraph: “I cannot return to Afghanistan because the Taliban will kill me, and now the US has closed its doors.

“My only hope is the UK, where I pray we’ll be given a chance to start over, we are trapped.”

Another refugee, Maissam Saee, 30, who worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Kabul, said: “I have a special immigration visa, but the ban seems to have put our future in limbo.

“The UK is our last hope. We risked everything to support the West, and now we’re left with nothing. I hope the British government will not turn its back on us.”

He added: “I have heard English people have a human heart and my friend, who was living with me in Pakistan, landed in London last year,” he said.

“Taliban have raided my house in Kabul multiple times, looking for me. If I go back, they will kill me for working for the US military.”

The UK launched the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) in April 2021 to offer sanctuary to “Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Government in Afghanistan in exposed or meaningful roles.”

Since then, it has enabled around 29,000 to move to the UK in the face of threats to their lives by the Taliban for their work with UK troops.

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to lower legal migration numbers after official data released in November 2024 showed net migration had reached a record of more than 900,000 in the year to June 2023, much higher than original estimates.

The data led to Starmer blaming an “open borders” policy by the previous Conservative government for the figures as he vowed to control net migration figures under his premiership.

The Express.co.uk has contacted the Home Office for comment.