MUSTAFA, not his real name, risked his life to serve on the front lines with British troops in Helmand.

The 29-year-old has only met his four-year-old son twice.

He came to Wales on October 28, 2015 – a date he says is carved into his memory like a birthday – after waiting a year for a visa to be approved.

Settling initially in Caldicot, Monmouthshire, along with a handful of fellow interpreters, he soon moved to Newport after growing tired of the small town life.

Mustafa married his wife in 2011, but had to take the heart-breaking decision to leave her behind when he came to the UK.

The rules for Afghan interpreters who wanted to come to the UK allowed wives and children to come with their husbands, if they left at the same time.

But, explained Mustafa, this would mean that the resurgent Taliban would figure out his former role – putting the rest of his family left behind in terrible danger.

So, like many other interpreters, Mustafa chose to take his visa, and hoped to arrange for his wife and child to join him in the UK when it was safe.

“I told everyone that I was coming to the UK as an illegal immigrant,” Mustafa said.

“They all asked: ‘Why Mustafa? Why would you do such a dangerous thing?’

“But if I told them I’d been given a visa for the UK, they would know that I used to work for the British forces. That would be bad for the rest my family who I was not allowed to bring. My mother, my father, my brothers and sisters and their families.

“I couldn’t bring my wife because our culture means that you protect your women. If I took her on this dangerous journey - and told people at home we would be illegals - everyone would see it was a lie. But I didn’t want to leave my wife. I wouldn’t have left like this if I had known this would happen.

“I rang the embassy in Kabul, and asked if I could bring them over later. They told me I could do it anytime, and made it sound easy.”

But after arriving, Mustafa found that strict immigration rules now applied, including almost unobtainable salary thresholds and English language tests.

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Frustratingly for Mustafa, if he had come to the country as an illegal immigrant and claimed refugee status, his family would in all likelihood be by his side by now.

“We are being punished for following the rules, for doing what we were told,” said Mustafa.

When he left his wife in 2015, she was heavily pregnant with their first child.

His son was born 12 days after he left the country, and now lives with Mustafa’s wife in the home of his family in Khost province.

Mustafa has managed to return twice to Afghanistan, where his son is growing up without him.

“The last time I went home, he was old enough for me to say to him that I’m his father," said Mustafa.

“But he was so confused.

"He said: ‘No that’s my father,’ and pointed at his grandfather – my father.

“It was heart-breaking. But that’s the sacrifice I have made to keep my family safe.”

Mustafa learned English through the US embassy in Kabul thanks to the Youth Education System - an initiative to teach Afghan teenagers during the war.

But as the embassy started being targeted by suicide bombers, the scheme was scrapped.

Eager to help his war-torn country, Mustafa joined up with US forces in 2008, working as a front line interpreter in Paktia province for a year. Only his parents knew, but Mustafa hid his active role from them, instead telling them he worked on base.

“Within a year I started getting threats from the Taliban while I was with US forces,” he explained.

“The insurgents found out who I was, and threatened my family in a letter. My parents saw the letter and begged me to stop – so I did.”

Mustafa came home and found other work. He met his wife and they married in 2011.

He said during that time he was scared to travel far from his home and family in case he was outed as an interpreter.

But boredom and frustration finally got the better of him.

“I wanted to be back in the army because I wanted to help my country.” he said.

“I told everyone at home, except for my parents, that I was working at a petrol station in Kabul. Whenever I returned home I would dress very simply, and make sure to stick to my story. I wouldn't flash any money around, and I would keep quiet.

“I think some people were suspicious, but I don’t think they knew exactly.

“I only told my wife the first time I returned to Afghanistan after getting my visa - but she said that she had known all along.”

For two years, Mustafa saw active service on the front lines with British troops.

“We were getting attacked all the time on patrol,” he said.

“I saw lots of people dying. Civilians and soldiers.

“We were in command posts with just 13 or 14 soldiers and getting attacked by the Taliban all the time.”

Mustafa said the things he saw didn’t really affect him at the time.

But now, with the added pressure of being separated from his family, he says the memories are starting to cause him problems.

“I didn’t have any expectations when I was in Afghanistan,” he said.

“My family were there, I could see them. But when I came here I started to feel it.

"The anticipation is the worst thing. It sets of my anxiety and depression, and I dream about the things I have seen.

"I’ve seen a doctor who has prescribed me medicine.”

The last time Mustafa saw his family was in November 2018. But he had to cut short his visit because of the worsening security situation. He doesn’t know when he will get to see them again.

“I saw men in the streets with guns, and I was scared for myself and my family,” he said. “The Taliban are taking control outside of the big cities.

“I’m scared about leaving my family in that situation, of course. But I don’t know what I can do.”

Mustafa, who has worked as a plumber since arriving in the UK, wants the Government to relax their rules for Afghan interpreters. He has been writing to them for 18 months.

At the moment, he explained, he would have to earn £18,600 a year to be able to bring his wife over. His wife would also need to pass an English language test.

For his son, he would have to add another £2,400 to his salary.

“It’s almost impossible for my wife to learn any English,” said Mustafa.

“The only place she could is in Kabul. It’s different there than from here, it’s not so easy. She can’t travel easily to Kabul to learn, and it’s hard to imagine being able to earn that money anytime soon.”

Mustafa, along with his fellow interpreters living in Newport, are asking the Government to review this process – to let them be reunited in safety with their wives and children.

Newport East MP Jess Morden is fighting their corner.

(Jess Morden MP has raised the issue in Parliament)

Last July, the Labour MP asked the Defence Secretary: “What is the Secretary of State doing with the Home Office to address the issues faced by the Afghan interpreters who settled here under the Government scheme, but are now facing real difficulties being reunited with their families here because of the normal spousal visa rules? Their work was crucial and dangerous and they deserve better.

“Many Afghan interpreters in the UK – including constituents in Newport East – feel that their lives are on hold and every day they fear for the safety of their families while the uncertainty around their families’ residency status persists.

"These are brave individuals who supported our forces fighting the Taliban, and we owe them a duty of care for their service to our country. The very least the Government can do is ensure that their spouses and children are reunited with them in the UK. It’s high time the Ministry of Defence and Home Office sorted this situation out.”

The Home Office said a review of the system was “ongoing”.

A spokesman said that interpreters still in Afghanistan can bring their families with them, but added it still has to be at the same time.

Until then, husbands who thought they were protecting their families by coming to the UK alone will have to follow family migration rules in the usual way.

But despite assurances that a review is underway, Mustafa isn’t convinced.

He has received three replies from the UK government – all of which were word for word copies of the previous letter, with just the date changed.

“It says they are looking into it, and that it shouldn’t take too long. But it’s been 18 months now and three letters that all say the same thing.

“We’ve been forgotten about, after everything we did. I hope they change the rules but I just can’t see it at the moment.”

Torn apart: How did we get here?

IN 2013 coalition forces in Afghanistan announced they were going to withdraw from the country.

After 12 long years of attrition, Western troops were leaving the country behind.

Leaving the terror of improvised explosive devices buried on footpaths and in ditches, on farmland and in doorways.

Leaving behind the confusion of a war with no front lines against an enemy who wore no uniforms.

Leaving the memory of disfigured soldiers seared onto the consciousness of an entire generation.

But they also left people behind. Young men who had signed up with coalition forces in an effort to rebuild their shattered country, using their English language skills on front line patrols with British troops.

They shared their victories and their defeats, their gains and losses.

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Eventually, after pressure from media and the armed forces, 430 “local staff” from Afghanistan, including interpreters who had served 12 months or more with British forces in Helmand, were granted visas to relocate to the UK.

If they had stayed in Afghanistan, some would now be dead – victims of the resurgent Taliban.

Now safe from the Taliban, some face another battle.

A battle against the Government to allow their wives and children to join them in the UK.

Although the relocation scheme allowed for immediate family members to leave with their loved ones and come to the UK, the reality on the ground often made this impossible.

Interpreters faced some stark choices.

Leave with wives and children in the knowledge that doing so would expose them as interpreters and put their family left behind at risk.

Stay in Afghanistan, and hope their cover stories held as the Taliban once again grew in strength.

Rely on the Government’s ‘Intimidation scheme’ – focussed on relocating interpreters to other parts of Afghanistan - which was derided as a total failure in a 2018 House of Commons report.

Or to take their visas, and believe the promises that bringing family members to join them in the UK after the dust had settled would not be a difficult process.

At least nine ended up in Newport. Three agreed to tell us about their lives.

In this short series of three special reports, we will tell you their stories.