FRIGHTENED families fleeing Afghanistan are set to be provided with refuge in a Colchester hotel after supporting British troops during the war.

Since the Taliban took control of Kabul on Sunday, thousands of people fearing for their lives have been desperately trying to escape the capital.

The conflict led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson drawing up a resettlement scheme which will grant 20,000 Afghans refugee in the UK over the next five years.

Since the announcement Colchester Council has agreed to accommodate families, offering to provide them with a safe haven.

The Gazette understands a hotel within the town has been asked to take in five families due to the site having spare rooms.

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The company which runs the complex, however, has declined to confirm or deny whether that is the case.

A Colchester Council spokesman said: “We’re continuing our ongoing dialogue with Essex County Council, voluntary sector partners and the Home Office to agree details of the families we will be able to welcome.

“We expect numbers will change, depending on the type of accommodation offered and whether families are found accommodation elsewhere.”

The people who will be given support will be Afghanistan nationals who have supported the Armed Forces in the country over the past 20 years.

Known as Locally Employed Staff, they and their families are considered to be more at risk due to their close association with British and US troops.

Isabelle Lockwood, of Refugee Action Colchester, said: “We will be helping the families get through many issues such as how they can access benefits and further education.

“We are, however, but we are just at the beginning of a long process. and it remains unclear how soon National Insurance umbers will be sorted out.

“Lots of people are coming together to support the families and clearly we have an amazing community.

“The Colchester people have been fantastic, asking us how they can help, offering to volunteer, and donating money and even their homes.

“The main issue is where the families will be homed because this has happened at such short notice but we have even had landlords offering to help.”

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Families who arrive in Colchester as part of the resettlement scheme will first need to have their right to be in the country approved by the Home Office.

They will then be granted leave to remain in the UK for five years before being given visas so they can work and live in the country.

Asylum seekers, however, will still be required to apply for asylum in order to legally stay due to not being eligible for resettlement initiative.

Isabelle added: “We are going to see a lot of people who are coming over as part of the scheme and others who are not.

“So, we are trying to raise money for asylum seekers who need a country report to show Afghanistan is not a safe place they can return to.

“We we want to help because they are in limbo right now.”

Home Secretary and Witham MP Priti Patel has said a scheme to resettle 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, particularly women and girls, could be expanded.

“We have got to come up with the actual infrastructure, the support, the resettlement,” she said.

“We are going to be working with all partners. We could end up bringing many more but first of all we have to have the underpinning and the infrastructure and the support to do that.”