PROPOSALS to create a new regiment of the British army for Afghan special forces were backed today by MPs who have been soldiers.

Ministers are reportedly considering plans to allow Afghan commandos to form a new regiment, akin to the Gurkhas, or to be integrated into existing units.

Tory MPs including Tobias Ellwood, a military veteran who chairs the defence select committee, welcomed the proposal, saying: “Given that we’ve helped train these forces, it’s certainly something that needs to be a consideration.”

The Ministry of Defence said it was “assessing how to best support them and utilise their skills and expertise going forward.”

Despite regular Tory praise for the Gurkhas – Nepalese soldiers who have fought for Britain since the first world war – it took a recent 13-day hunger strike by Gurkha veterans outside Downing Street to force ministers to accept further talks on a long-running pensions dispute.

One veteran – Dhan Gurung, 60 – was taken to hospital with a heart complaint before being discharged. 

Hundreds of Gurkhas rallied for days in Parliament Square earlier this month, chanting: “No justice, no peace,” as they called for equal pensions for soldiers who retired before 1997 and are not eligible for a full British armed forces pension.

Today, Labour challenged the government’s estimate of how many Afghans possibly eligible for resettlement in this country were left behind when the last British troops were flown out of Kabul on Saturday.

Ministers had previously said that between 800 and 1,100 eligible Afghans would not be rescued in time, but Labour shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy wrote to her Tory opposite number Dominic Raab saying that there had been a “serious underestimate,” as 5,000 potential cases had been identified by Labour MPs alone. 

Ms Nandy, who called on the government to plan for “significantly larger” numbers, also raised concerns that there were no agreements with countries bordering Afghanistan to accept refugees en route for Britain.

A government spokesperson said officials were “urgently working through correspondence” to help as many people as possible.