Government ignored calls for help during Kabul evacuation

A sacked Foreign Office whistleblower claimed senior government officials ignored pleas for help from Afghans desperate for rescue after the fall of Kabul, a court has heard.

Josie Stewart told the judges that judges' inboxes were filled with requests for help from Afghans seeking to resettle outside the war-torn country, but that members of the Afghanistan Crisis Center had not no process to deal with them and eventually stopped monitoring them.

Applicants were met with confusion and false hope because only those with outspoken or influential British backers were likely to receive a response, she told the employment tribunal in central London.

Ms Stewart, a former senior civil servant at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), was fired after an interview with the BBC in which she spoke about her tragic experiences working at the FCDO crisis center at the summer 2021.

She appeared at an employment tribunal against the department, in which she alleges unfair dismissal for making a protected disclosure.

The case will determine the right of civil servants to make public interest disclosures to the press when misleading allegations by ministers and civil servants are made in Parliament and the media, Ms Stewarts' lawyers said.

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the British government evacuated 15,000 people from its capital, Kabul, in what became known as Operation Pitting.

Ms Stewart previously told the court that senior politicians and officials, including then-prime minister Boris Johnson, prioritized managing the political and media fallout over effective evacuation.

She said authorities misled the public and, in some cases, were deliberately dishonest.

In a witness statement given to the court, Ms Stewart said she was disgusted that Mr Johnson had intervened and reversed the policy allowing the evacuation of animals and staff from the Nowzad charity, a claim the Prime minister had publicly described it as total absurdity.

Ben Collins KC, representing the FCDO, said the tribunal was not an inquiry into the UK's conduct during the Afghanistan evacuation, adding that the hearing should not be used as a campaign vehicle by Ms Stewart or its witnesses.

He said Ms Stewart had been made familiar with various internal channels through which complaints could be made, but she chose to ignore all these options and give a secret interview with a BBC journalist, who later revealed by mistake his identity on social networks.

Gavin Millar KC, representing Ms Stewart, said the two revelations made by the whistleblower were necessary to confirm the veracity of the allegations made against senior officials, including Mr Johnson.

It is clear that these revelations demonstrate particularly serious failures on the part of the British government, he added.

Ms Stewart said responding to Afghans' calls for help was not a priority for the crisis center, which dealt with special resettlement cases not covered by other programs such as the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy. (ARAP).

She claimed that no one in any position cared or had any serious intention of dealing with the growing number of emails from Afghans that had been left behind after the last flights left in late August.

Maintaining communication and providing any information to those people who, desperate for help, had sought help from the UK was not considered important unless they had outspoken or influential British supporters, she added.

This, coupled with the confusion and false hope created by the chaotic creation and communication of the Special Cases Policy, has undoubtedly prevented people from making the best decisions for themselves, based on a realistic understanding of the situation.

Another FCDO employee wrote in an internal email that the withdrawal was the most serious and chaotic crisis they had worked on, judges heard.

A lessons learned report was produced following the evacuation, led by Stephanie Al-Qaq, then director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Foreign Office, but Ms Stewart refused to contribute because she thought it would be whitewashing and would require facing traumatic memories.

But Mr Collins said Ms Stewart's claim that the report was part of a system set up to track its leaders and protect itself was made before it was written and was therefore unfair.

Judges heard that Ms Stewart was incredibly terrified and traumatized after her anonymity was compromised and she feared losing her job.

Mr Collins said her initial reactions to the tweets revealing her name involved her denying contacting the journalist.

He also suggested that the removal of his security clearances following an internal investigation was justified and that without these privileges it was impossible for him to remain employed by the department.

But Mr Millar said the FCDO had attempted a sleight of hand by presenting Ms Stewart's dismissal as a consequence of the revocation of her security clearances and not of her whistleblowing.

He said: The disclosures were the reason the security clearance was revoked, and the removal of those security clearances was the reason she was fired.

The court will continue until May 20.