An Afghan mother and her seven children are still stuck in a hotel near Gatwick Airport in Crawley seven months after fleeing Kabul. Refugees from Afghanistan say they are treated differently from Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

As MyLondon reports, this week the government offered £350 a month to Britons who want to take in Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict in their millions. Critics say if Afghanistan’s ‘Operation Warm Welcome’ scheme were to switch to the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ model, only 10% of the 120,000 Britons who rushed to register would be enough to welcome all Afghan refugees to the UK .

Yet six months after the fall of Kabul, the Afghan capital, those who fled the Taliban are wondering why there is a “disparity” in the British government’s treatment of Afghans and Ukrainians. There are still thousands of displaced people currently waiting in hotels to be resettled in the UK.

READ MORE: Crawley Racecourse on the site of Gatwick Airport which was Sussex’s answer to Cheltenham

Fortunately, some of those living in and around London have found solace mingling with other displaced Afghans at the Afghan and Central Asian Association (ACAA) in Feltham, London, in the shadow of the planes from Heathrow nearby.

Kabul councilor Gulalai Nuristani, 46, escaped the Taliban takeover on August 27, 2021, bringing with her seven children, a grandchild and her husband, Afghan army Colonel Mohammad Osman Nuristani, 60 years, a 10-year veteran fighting alongside US forces. Gulalai, who would now be unable to work as a woman in the Afghan civil service, is ‘comfortable’ at their hotel in Crawley, near Gatwick Airport and says: ‘The Brits have been really nice, since we arrived here, we felt no lack of anything.”

However, she shares concerns that thousands of Afghans are still languishing in temporary accommodation. Her husband Mohammad believes “there is a difference” in the reception of Afghans and Ukrainians.

The misery of their situation becomes apparent when their 12-year-old daughter, Maheria, steps in and talks about her dreams of being a doctor, doing math and arts in school, and playing basketball. But he misses home. She says, “I have many friends in Afghanistan. My grandmother is there and I want to go back to see her, but if we go back to Afghanistan the Taliban will kill my mother and my father because he was in the army.

Speaking to other Afghans celebrating Nowruz (Persian New Year), the sentiment is that “their crisis and their plight don’t matter so much” and “their experiences don’t matter as much”. All the Afghans MyLondon spoke to were clear, the Ukrainian cash-for-housing program is welcome and needed, but they wonder where the deal for Afghans was.

Only 350 homeowners have come forward since the government pledged to relocate 20,000 Afghans last summer, according to The Big Issue.

ACAA Director Nooralhaq Nasimi said: “Why should there be a double standard in the approach of Ukrainians? There is a lot of discussion about how the media portrays the Ukrainian crisis versus the Afghan crisis. You can clearly see that this policy will create more division within British multicultural society. If you are an Afghan in the UK and you follow the news with your family, they will start talking about it in a very negative.

“What the government promised has not happened”

Charity Asylum Matters described the resettlement scheme as “dangerously slow”, adding that “the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme is currently only open to people who have already resettled in the UK”. This month, the House of Commons all-party international development committee said the government had acted neither “quickly nor with clarity of purpose” in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Latifa Sagader, 62, escaped Kabul with her husband and children when the Taliban stormed the capital, but one of her sons was captured. As a chef and seamstress, she has a lot to offer in the UK and says she wants to work but her hands are tied as she is stuck in a hotel. Although she is happy there for now, she says “if they offer me a house in London, I will feel like a living person”.

She is one of many cases according to outreach worker Nadia, who says there is mixed feeling among Afghans in hotels but “most are finding it difficult”. Some complain of being alone and others are happy to have survived a war zone. However, those who don’t have a family say, “What’s the point if my family isn’t safe? What the government promised did not happen.

Want the latest travel news from across Sussex delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.