A British soldier's mistake put the lives of at least 25,000 Afghans at risk.

LondonThere are inexplicable errors that come at an astronomical price. After two decades of fighting the Taliban, rampant corruption, and hundreds of thousands of lives sacrificed, the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan ended in chaos as dramatic as it was spectacular. The images that remained, in the eyes of a history that seemed to repeat itself, evoked the fall of Saigon (Vietnam) in 1975. But the chaos continued long beyond those days of August 2021.

Almost four years have passed since The takeoff of the last US flight to Kabul airport (August 31) and the abandonment of the Afghan population to their fate - especially women. But it was not until this Tuesday that the British Minister of Defense, John Healey, admitted before Parliament that the error of a Royal Marine endangered the lives of at least 25,000 Afghans—plus those of their families; a total of around 100,000 people—who had collaborated with the British during the twenty-year occupation. Afghans in the United Kingdom, to whom an email, through an unsecured platform, entrusted the personal data of those thousands of asylum seekers. He did so at least twice. Royal Marine He was working at the Special Forces headquarters at Regent's Park Barracks in central London, under the newly appointed General Sir Gwyn Jenkins. First Sea Lord, who had led British Special Forces in Afghanistan. The error wasn't discovered until August 2023.

The soldier's contacts, in turn, forwarded the names to other collaborators still in Afghanistan. All this to check with trusted Afghans on the ground whether the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) applicants were part of units that had fought alongside British forces. The leaked information also included details of other Afghans who had sought protection through a similar program, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). Simply requesting asylum was considered to put their lives in danger, as they were considered traitors in the eyes of the Taliban.

The scale of the double leak was so enormous that, in May 2024, Rishi Sunak's government finally established a secret program known internally as the Afghan Relocation Route to evacuate those affected. So far, 16,156 people have benefited and it has already cost more than £400 million; it is estimated that it will cost at least another £400 million to £450 million (close to €1 billion). Initially, the government estimated the cost of resolving the entire disaster at €8 billion.

The Afghan issue has sparked a huge controversy in the United Kingdom. Not only because of the seriousness of the leak and the cost, but also because of the Treasury's efforts to balance the books—she will have to announce a tax increase in October, partly to address military spending. without completely canceling aid to the disabled–, but also by the use of a call superinjunction A court order sought by then-Defense Minister Ben Wallace to keep the scandal secret. The request, granted by the courts, prohibited not only reporting on the contents of the original leak, but also the very existence of the first court order prohibiting speaking or publishing anything.

A public secret

Nervousness in the Sunak government began to spread on August 17, 2023 when a journalist from the Daily Mail contacted the Ministry of Defense to verify the information about the leak. Initially, it agreed not to publish anything until the government had put in place protective measures for those affected. The following day, a representative of Meta—Facebook's parent company—confirmed that the post had been removed from Facebook, where part of it had been shared, at the minister's request. On August 22, another journalist contacted the ministry regarding the same issue. In Westminster, this was already a public secret.

Three days later, Ben Wallace requested the first court order (injuction). And on September 1, his replacement, also a Conservative, Grant Shapps, obtained the aforementioned superinjunction. For the first time, a UK government has used such a draconian court order against the British press, and indeed against anyone with knowledge of the events. The British Parliament was kept in the dark about the whole affair until this very Tuesday. And, in fact, when the Sunak government explained the situation to the Labour shadow defense minister, John Healey, he was also given the superinjunction. He couldn't reveal anything, not even to the Labour leader and then-leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer. And he didn't.

In May 2024, a subcommittee of the Sunak government, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, decided to allow around 11,500 Afghans into the UK as a direct result of the leak. The decision was not reported in Parliament or subjected to public scrutiny. This data was kept hidden and did not even appear in the reports on Afghan resettlement programs.

The superinjunction It remained active as of Tuesday at noon. An independent review ordered in January 2025 by the Starmer government's Ministry of Defense had concluded weeks earlier that the breach was "unlikely to fundamentally change the existing risk profile." In light of that judgment, John Healey called for the injunction to be lifted. This Tuesday, in the Commons, the minister offered a "sincere apology" on behalf of the British government and acknowledged that "this serious data breach should never have occurred."

Meanwhile, just yesterday, a Manchester law firm announced it is representing more than 600 potential clients who could sue the British government for breaching data protection rules. The ministry estimates that around 600 Afghan soldiers and around 1,800 of their relatives included in the leaked list remain trapped in Afghanistan. Although the program is currently being wound down, the government has assured that it will honor resettlement offers already made. It has not confirmed, however, whether the official responsible for the leak has been sanctioned. At the time of the Ministry of Defense's review, 16,156 people affected by the 2022 leak had already arrived in the United Kingdom.

The case has put a renewed spotlight on Britain's handling of the Afghan crisis and opened a new debate on transparency, institutional accountability, and data security in contexts of maximum vulnerability. In August 2021, the British evacuated around 36,000 people from Kabul. Last year, Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee harshly criticized the operation, calling it "disastrous" and a "betrayal" of Western collaborators.