There has been a call on Western governments to include Christians in their intake of Afghan refugees.

A charity that supports persecuted Christians helped 400 escape Afghanistan, with a further 400 supported by them still in the country and another 1200 that the charity is currently helping to escape.

The figures come from an article by Barnabas Fund Patron, Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, in the London Daily Telegraph.

Before the evacuation, the Christian population of Afghanistan was estimated as including several hundred families in hiding by the charity. Carey estimates the total number as between 5,000 to 8,000. Barnabas fund is

Lord Carey said he was “dispirited that Christians have seemingly been overlooked by the Government even though they face the most extreme dangers under Taliban rule”.

He added “the small community of Christians are converts from Islam liable for punishment for apostasy under the Taliban. The Hanafi school of sharia which predominates in Afghanistan specifies death for male apostates and imprisonment for female apostates. The Taliban have a record of ultra-strict interpretation of sharia”.