Around 100 Afghan guards who worked with the Dutch government prior to the evacuation of Kabul in 2021 have started court cases to force the Netherlands to resettle them.

The guards say their lives are in danger after the Taliban retook the country following the withdrawal of US troops and the end of the Nato mission.

But despite a ruling by the Council of the European Union that all Afghans who worked with the European police mission (Eupol) should be evacuated with their families, the Netherlands has refused to give them asylum.

Last year the government reneged on an earlier commitment to evacuate the guards, claiming up to 4,500 people could claim asylum under the resettlement scheme. Ministers also argued that the guards did not qualify for protection because they were not directly employed by the Dutch state.

Last year the district court in The Hague ordered the government to resettle 42 Afghan guards, their partners and children, but the decision was overturned on appeal.

Anne-Marie Snels, former chair of the armed services union AFMP, said around 100 former guards were still in Afghanistan, moving from safe house to safe house to avoid the Taliban. She said they were at risk of being imprisoned or killed by the theocratic regime.

“I had a phone call during the night one time from an Afghan guard,” she said. “Three members of the Taliban were standing outside his house with Kalashnikovs. He filmed it, but the advocate general said anyone could have claimed it was them.”

Last December a motion tabled by GroenLinks-PvdA foreign affairs spokeswoman Kati Piri calling for 48 embassy guards and a group of military guards to be resettled was passed with the support of the CDA and VVD parties, who are now in the coalition.

“The Netherlands is implementing a restrictive policy,” Snels said. “The criteria have been tightened. Other countries are more generous and are still evacuating Afghans.

“The state is constantly trying to get away with it. They have twisted everything to avoid taking responsibility. The Netherlands doesn’t give a hoot about the military credo leave no man behind.”