The UK Government has secretly offered asylum to nearly 24,000 Afghan soldiers and their families following what is now revealed to be the most severe data breach in British history.
The unprecedented security failure, kept under wraps by a two-year superinjunction, forced ministers to allocate £7 billion over five years to resettle affected individuals, a move that could significantly impact the national budget and intensify pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of her Mansion House speech.
The data breach occurred in February 2022, when a Royal Marine mistakenly included a spreadsheet in an email to Afghan asylum seekers.
The spreadsheet revealed the identities of 25,000 Afghans, many of them former soldiers who had worked alongside British forces during the war in Afghanistan.
Although the posts were swiftly removed following intervention by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the government concluded it had no choice but to offer protection to those identified, citing the risk of Taliban reprisals.
Individuals granted asylum previously denied entry
Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, numerous Afghan special forces personnel have reportedly been killed. Some of the individuals now being granted asylum had previously been denied entry into the UK, but officials were forced to overturn those decisions in light of the breach.
Although court documents initially stated that nearly 43,000 people would be resettled as a result of the breach, Defence Secretary John Healey is expected to clarify in Parliament that 6,900 individuals will be brought to the UK under a scheme established specifically in response to the leak. Of these, 4,500 are already in the UK or en route, with another 2,400 awaiting travel.
In addition, 17,000 more Afghans already deemed eligible for resettlement under a separate relocation programme were found to have had their data exposed. Of this group, 14,000 are already in the UK or in transit, and 3,000 are yet to arrive.
Altogether, it’s believed that between 80,000 and 100,000 individuals were impacted by the breach, including British government officials, according to findings presented to the Court of Appeal.
The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the breach out of the public eye. A superinjunction secured by ministers not only barred media outlets from reporting on the leak but also prohibited mention of the legal proceedings themselves. The injunction was lifted by the High Court at midday on Tuesday, paving the way for public scrutiny and parliamentary accountability for the first time.
