Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK government and their families were brought to Britain in a secret programme after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, a minister revealed.

A significant data breach in 2022 resulted in the personal information of 18,714 Afghans, many of whom had worked with British forces, being inadvertently sent outside authorised UK government systems. The breach, which was only discovered when some of the data appeared on Facebook the following year, put those affected at risk of Taliban reprisals.

In response, the UK government initiated a confidential programme to relocate those impacted, resulting in 4,500 people being secretly brought to Britain at a reported cost of £2 billion. The incident was kept from public knowledge due to a court-ordered super injunction, which has now been lifted, and a further 600 people and their families are expected to have their applications honoured.

Thousands of Afghans brought to UK after data breach

It was a simple email mistake, but one that put almost 19,000 people at risk of harm from the Taliban. A spreadsheet containing the details of citizens who'd applied to move to the United Kingdom following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan was sent, quote, outside of authorised government systems in 2022. Government officials mistakenly believed that they were sending the names of 150 applicants. However, the spreadsheet in fact contained personal information associated to 18,714 Afghans who had applied either to the ex-Grecia or the Arak scheme. This was a serious departmental error. The government at the time only became aware of the leak when some of the data appeared on Facebook the following year. Those concerned by the breach, which includes soldiers who fought alongside the British forces in Afghanistan, were only informed this Tuesday. The mistake led authorities to set up an emergency scheme to move those involved to the United Kingdom, fearing that they may be targeted by the regime in the country. The data breach has only just been revealed after a High Court ordered what's known as a super injunction, which prevented anybody from revealing its existence, to be lifted. Many might find the government's current position somewhat surprising. They initially rushed to court to obtain an injunction, then a super injunction, to prevent the disclosure of this information by the media precisely because of the risk that it posed to those affected. Now somewhat curiously, some may consider, they're saying, well, there isn't a risk. Well, there are many credible media reports of those that have been persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan because of the help they provided to international forces, including UK, Australian and US forces. To date, 4,500 people have been secretly relocated to the UK at a cost of a reported £2 billion. A further 600 people, together with their families, are expected to have their applications honoured.

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