Afghans who worked for the British military and government and their families will be permitted to remain in the UK indefinitely as soon as they arrive, the government said on Wednesday. The new policy applies to those who resettle in the UK under the Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which was designed to protect the UK’s Afghan staff who are at risk of retaliation from the Taliban. The ARAP was launched on April 1, long before Afghanistan fell back into Taliban control. The government said that people who already relocated to the UK under ARAP can apply free of charge to convert their temporary leave into indefinite leave. “This will give Afghans the certainty and stability to rebuild their lives with unrestricted rights to work and the option to apply for British citizenship in the future,” the government said in a cross-department statement. This is part of the government’s “Operation Warm Welcome” …