The British Army made a serious mistake by leaking the personal details of about 20,000 Afghans nationals who had applied to move to the UK. The UK government will now relocate nearly 7,000 Afghans to Britain for their safety.
The leak exposed names and sensitive data of Afghans who had supported UK forces during operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021. Because the Taliban now sees such individuals as enemies, the UK government created a special relocation scheme to protect them. A court lifted the reporting ban, revealing the previously secret programme.
According to reports, the incident could cost the UK nearly £7 billion. So far, around 4,500 Afghans have reached the UK, while around 600 more and their families are still on the way. The rest of the 7,000 covered by the scheme will be relocated soon.
A Defence Ministry official mistakenly sent the email containing the names outside the approved system in 2022. However, the government didn’t discover the breach until August 2023 and set up a new plan months later to handle the issue.
While the Ministry of Defence says it’s unclear whether the Taliban has the list, they admit they lost control of the data. Sources believe that someone killed some people on the list, though it’s unclear if the leak directly caused those deaths.
Defence Secretary John Healey apologized in Parliament, calling it a serious error. An independent review later said the risk to individuals was likely low, but the secret relocation scheme was still necessary.
Critics, including lawyers representing many victims, have said the government tried to hide the incident from the public. They also warned that the breach puts many Afghans and their families in danger of being attacked by armed groups.
