The UK government is chartering flights to relocate Afghan refugees, living in Pakistan, who worked with or for the UK government in Afghanistan and have been promised UK visas.
An official source in Pakistan told the BBC the first flight left with 132 people on board.
It landed in the UK on Friday morning, according to the BBC. Earlier this month, Parliament heard that thousands of Afghans who assisted the UK and took refuge in neighbouring Pakistan with the promise of resettlement in Britain now face being deported to their Taliban-ruled country due to a lack of housing.
Ministers have acknowledged the delay, which they said was because of a shortage of suitable accommodation.
A Government spokesman previously said: “The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes.
“We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, with new arrivals going directly into settled accommodation where possible.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan has ordered that all unregistered Afghan refugees must leave the country by November 1 or face repatriation.
Parliament previously heard those still awaiting resettlement faced a “dire situation”, with the Government facing demands for action “to protect those who protected us”.
Hardline Taliban militants returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after western forces, including the US and Britain, withdrew following a 20-year occupation.
There are currently two routes under which eligible Afghans can be brought to live in the UK – the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme.
