Thousands of Afghans secretly relocated to UK after data leak

Thousands of Afghans, including many who worked with British forces, have been secretly resettled in the United Kingdom after a leak of personal information raised fears that the Taliban could target them, the British government revealed on Tuesday.

The UK said it is closing the resettlement programme, which a rare court order had barred the media from disclosing.

“To all those whose information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology today", Defence Secretary John Healey said in the House of Commons.

He said he regretted the secrecy and “have felt deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and the public.”

Healey told lawmakers that a spreadsheet containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who had applied to come to Britain after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was accidentally released in 2022 because of a defence official’s email error.

The then-Conservative government only became aware of the leak when some of the data was published on Facebook 18 months later.

The government sought a court order barring disclosure of the leak, in an attempt to prevent the personal information being made public any further. The High Court issued an order known as a super injunction that barred anyone from revealing its existence.

The government then set up a secret programme, the Afghan Response Route, to resettle the Afghans judged to be at greatest threat from the country's Taliban rulers.

The injunction was lifted on Tuesday in conjunction with a decision by Britain’s current Labour Party government to make the programme public.

Some 4,500 Afghans — 900 applicants and approximately 3,600 family members — have been brought to Britain under the programme, and about 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the time it closes, at a total cost of about £850 million ($1.1 billion), according to the British government.

Around 36,000 Afghans have been relocated to the UK under other resettlement routes since 2021.

Critics say that still leaves thousands of people who helped British troops as interpreters or in other roles at risk of torture, imprisonment or death.

Sean Humber, a lawyer at the firm Leigh Day, which has represented many Afghan claimants, said the “catastrophic” data breach had caused “anxiety, fear and distress” to those affected.