LONDON (BN24) — Britain established a covert programme to resettle thousands of Afghans after a Ministry of Defence data breach exposed the identities of more than 33,000 people, placing them in potential danger from the Taliban, newly released court documents have revealed.
A judgment issued in May 2024 by London’s High Court—made public Tuesday—indicated that as many as 20,000 Afghans could ultimately be offered relocation to the UK, a commitment expected to cost taxpayers several billion pounds.
Defence Minister John Healey told Parliament that approximately 4,500 people are either already in Britain or currently in transit under the secret scheme, known as the Afghan Response Route, at a cost of about £400 million ($540 million).
A Ministry of Defence-commissioned review, also published Tuesday, showed that by May, more than 16,000 people affected by the breach had been resettled in the UK.
The leak involved personal details of thousands of Afghans who had assisted British forces during the 20-year military campaign, which ended in a chaotic withdrawal in 2021. The breach first came to light in August 2023 when a portion of the data was inadvertently posted on Facebook. Officials discovered that the dataset included the names and personal information of nearly 19,000 applicants and their families seeking relocation.
The then-Conservative government obtained a rare superinjunction in September 2023 to prevent public disclosure of the breach, warning that exposure could lead to extrajudicial killings or other reprisals by the Taliban. That injunction was lifted this year following a legal challenge.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s centre-left government, which came to power last July, ordered a comprehensive review of the breach, the injunction, and the resettlement programme. While the review confirmed Afghanistan remains dangerous, it found little evidence that the Taliban were systematically targeting people connected to the UK.
Healey on Tuesday apologised for the breach, calling it “an incident that should never have happened,” and confirmed that the Afghan Response Route has now been closed.
Alongside those resettled through this special scheme, Britain has relocated about 36,000 more Afghans through other formal resettlement routes.
British troops first deployed to Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks as part of the US-led “War on Terror,” eventually peaking at nearly 10,000 UK service members on the ground.
The UK government is also facing lawsuits from those impacted by the leak.
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