Cover not available
Part of
Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from around the world
Edited by Lucía Ruiz Rosendo and Jesús Baigorri-Jalón
[Benjamins Translation Library 159] 2023
► pp. 268–287

Chapter 11
When the armies went back home

Local interpreters and the politics of protection

| Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London , UK

Research on interpreting in war has investigated the role played by local civilians recruited by the Army as linguistic mediators. This chapter explores the aftermath of war for these local interpreters in the case of the conflict in Afghanistan, using the seven-year long debates on their fate in the UK, France and Denmark. In the arguments around the politics of protection, interpreting is located in three discursive spaces: at the supranational level, within the specificities of NATO multilateral operations on the ground, and in the space of individual nation-state agendas. In the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan, the Chapter argues, the greater public visibility of local interpreters did not materially change the ways in which interpreting in war was perceived.

Keywords: Afghanistan, asylum, civilian, conflict, Denmark, France, local interpreters, NATO, UK, veteran
Article outline
  • The supranational space
  • Interpreting and multilateral NATO operations
  • Interpreting and the national space
  • Ex-interpreters and the politics of immigration
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.11foo
References
Aitken, Emma
2019 Guardian 7 September.Google Scholar
Allende, Hannah
2017 Issues Around Relocation of Afghan Interpreters. MA diss., University of Plymouth.
Andlauer, Brice, and Quentin Müller
2019 Tarjuman. Enquête sur une trahison française. Paris: Bayard Editions.Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale
2021 Rapport d’information par la Commission de la Défense nationale et des forces armées sur les personnels civils de la Défense. No. 4076.Google Scholar
Association
2017 [URL]
Ayeen, Nazir
2018 Why Don’t Afghan Interpreters Get to Stay? Podcast Talking Migration 29 29 May.Google Scholar
Bagnulo, Lucio
2019 ATA at “Protect Translators. Protect Interpreters. Protect the World. A Panel Discussion at the United Nations.” [URL] Google Scholar
Bonneau, Emmanuelle
2010 “Pourquoi les Français oublient-ils la guerre en Afghanistan?” Rue 9 21 October.Google Scholar
Brown, L. & Williams, D.
2018 Daily Mail.Google Scholar
2020 Daily Mail.Google Scholar
Bulman, M.
2018 Independent 5 May.Google Scholar
Byrnes, Peter J.
2021 RedT. [URL]Google Scholar
Conflict Zone Field Guide for Civilian Translators/Interpreters and Users of their Services
(2012) [URL]Google Scholar
Cummings, Michael
2012 “Influencing the Population: Using Interpreters, Conducting KLEs, and Executing IO in Afghanistan.” CALL Newsletter 1–18: 43–51.Google Scholar
Daily Mail
. Session 2016–17 House of Commons, Written Evidence, Defence Committee: Locally Employed Civilians, LEI0001.Google Scholar
de Jong, Sara
2017, Q. 23. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
2017, Q. 25. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
2017, Q. 29. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
. Session 2017–19 House of Commons, Written Evidence, Defence Committee: Locally Employed Civilians, LEC0001.Google Scholar
DIIS
2014 The Fate of Local Interpreters. Past and Future Challenges in Military Operations. Danish Institute for International Studies.Google Scholar
Fitchett, Linda
2012 “The AIIC Project to Help Interpreters in Conflict Areas.” In Languages and the Military. Alliances, Occupation and Peace-Building, ed. by Hilary Footitt, and Michael Kelly, 175–185. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
2019 “Interpreting in Peace and Conflict: Origins, Developing Practices, and Ethics.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflict, ed. by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-Carr, 183–204. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Footitt, Hilary
2019 “Archives and Sources.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflict, ed. by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-Carr, 137–155. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gómez Amich, María
2018 “Life in Conflict: A Series of Narratives by Locally-recruited Interpreters from Afghanistan.” Close Encounters in War 1: 22–44.Google Scholar
Gray, James
2017, Q51. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 993 7 February.Google Scholar
Helmus, Todd C.
2015 Advising the Command. Best Practices from the Special Operation’s Advisory Experience in Afghanistan. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation.Google Scholar
Hottak, Rafi
. Session 2016–17 House of Commons, Written Evidence. Defence Committee: Locally Employed Civilians, LE10001.Google Scholar
House of Commons
2018 Lost in Translation? Afghan Interpreters and Other Locally Employed Civilians. Defence Committee, House of Commons, HC1568.Google Scholar
Inghilleri, Moira
2010 “You don’t make War without knowing Why. The Decision to interpret in Iraq.” The Translator 16 (2): 175–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iremonger, Jonathan
2017, Q. 65. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 993 7 February.Google Scholar
2017, Q.102. Defence committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 993 7 February.Google Scholar
Jackson, M.
2013 The Times. Letter 6 April.Google Scholar
Jauvert, Vincent
2011 “Jospin: L’Afghanistan, ce n’était pas notre guerre.” Le Nouvel Observateur 1 September.Google Scholar
Kahane, Eduardo
2009 “The AIIC Resolution on Interpreters in War and Conflict Zones.” [URL].Google Scholar
Kelly, Michael, and Catherine Baker
2013 Interpreting the Peace. Peace Operations, Conflict and Language in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
Kilcullen, David
2007 “Religion and Insurgency.” Small Wars Journal Blog 1 May [URL].Google Scholar
Le Grip. Constance.
2018 Question Ecrite, 5ème législature, no. 9909 26 June.Google Scholar
Marchal, Caroline
2013 L’hommage politique aux soldats français morts en Afghanistan. Une analyse sociologique. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Moser-Mercer, Barbara
2018 “Interpreting in Conflict Zones.” In The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting, ed. by Holly Mikkelson, and Renée Jourdenais, 302–316. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pedersen, Asger
2017 “The Interpreters.” Survival 59 (3): 209–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Penning, Mike
2017, Q. 46, Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 993 7 February.Google Scholar
Petraeus, David H.
2006 “Learning Counterinsurgency: Observations from Soldiering in Iraq.” Military Review, January-February: 2–12.Google Scholar
Red T.
2019 UN HQ Panel. [URL].Google Scholar
2021a [URL].
2021b Letter to Secretary General of NATO, May, [URL].Google Scholar
RFi
2019 [URL].
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía
2020 “Interpreting for the Afghanistan Spanish Force.” War & Society 39 (1): 42–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silburg, M.
2015 “Comrades and Allies: Danish War Vets Blast Govt for Denying Asylum to Afghan Interpreters.” RT News, [URL].Google Scholar
Škrabec, S.
2019 [URL].
Stoltenberg, Jans
2021 NATO Joint Press Point 14 April, [URL].Google Scholar
SulhaNetwork
2018 [URL] 4 May.
2019 [URL] 17 September.
2019 [URL], October 21.
2020 [URL] 29 December.
2021 [URL] 16 January.
SulhaNetwork Letter
1 June 2021 [URL].
Szpiner, F.
2018 Le Figaro 31 October.Google Scholar
Tălpaş Michaela
2016 “Words cut two ways. An overview of the Situation of Afghan Interpreters at the beginning of the 21st Century.” Linguistica Antverpiensa, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies 15: 241–259.Google Scholar
The Local
2015 [URL] 17 May.Google Scholar
Tipton, Rebecca
2011 “Relationships of Learning between Military Personnel and Interpreters in Situations of Violent Conflict.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 5 (1): 15–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tugendhat, Tom
2017, Q.20. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
2017 Q.22. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
2017 Q.24. Defence Committee Oral Evidence: Locally Employed Civilians, HC 572 28 November.Google Scholar
Williams, D. & Brown, L.
20 July 2020 [URL].