Unlock the Editor’s Digest at no cost
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.
The UK authorities arrange a secret multibillion-pound scheme to relocate 1000’s of Afghans to Britain after an information leak put them liable to reprisals from the Taliban — and gagged the media with a super-injunction.
The names, contact data and different private particulars of about 25,000 Afghans, individuals who labored carefully with the UK earlier than the Taliban seized energy and a few of their members of the family, had been by accident disclosed by a British soldier in emails in February 2022.
The leak of the huge, extremely delicate database was not found till August 2023 when it was talked about in a Fb group. About 100,000 individuals had been put in danger, the federal government estimated, when wider members of the family had been included. Key details concerning the breach are nonetheless unpublishable resulting from a courtroom order.
In response, ministers in Rishi Sunak’s former Conservative authorities instituted a secret scheme to carry Afghans to the UK.
The plan as just lately as February this yr, underneath Sir Keir Starmer’s present Labour administration, was to relocate 25,000 individuals, at a possible value of £7bn, in response to a authorities estimate.
February 2025 authorities memo on reviewing response to information breach
“The present coverage response to the [data] incident will imply relocating c25,000 Afghans, who’ve beforehand been discovered ineligible for the [Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy] scheme, however who we assess to be on the highest danger of focusing on by the Taleban ought to they’ve entry to the database. This can imply relocating extra Afghans to the UK than have been relocated underneath the ARAP scheme, at time when the UK’s immigration and asylum system is underneath important pressure. This can lengthen the scheme for one more 5 years at a value of c.£7bn. Implementation of the coverage has additionally required unprecedented authorized motion, within the type of the ‘tremendous injunction’ that has penalties for scrutiny and transparency.”
In current weeks, because the Excessive Court docket in London took steps in the direction of lifting the veil on the affair, the federal government lower quick the scheme.
British intelligence had beforehand assessed that the breach had put the Afghans liable to homicide, torture, harassment and intimidation by the Taliban. The Ministry of Defence mentioned this month {that a} new assessment of threats in Afghanistan had discovered the chance to Afghans nonetheless within the nation was lower than beforehand thought.
Regardless of the £7bn estimate revealed in courtroom proceedings, MoD officers mentioned this week that the direct prices of the leak had solely ever been estimated at about £2bn, and that the invoice for the covert evacuations would now be a lot decrease as a result of the variety of eligible Afghans had been lowered.
The revelations come at a time when Britain’s public funds are underneath heavy pressure and the anti-immigration Reform UK opposition get together is main the nation’s most important institution events within the polls.
The Excessive Court docket has been instructed that civil servants have warned of the chance of “public dysfunction” in response to information of the key relocation plan, which comes a yr after far-right riots final summer time.
To this point, the UK authorities has moved about 18,500 Afghans affected by the info breach to Britain. The MoD mentioned most had been already eligible underneath an present route. Officers mentioned simply 5,500 individuals had been relocated instantly due to the breach, with not less than an additional 2,400 resulting from come.
Defence secretary John Healey is predicted to announce he’s closing the key scheme — often known as the Afghan Response Route — to new candidates in an announcement to the Home of Commons on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the federal government additionally abruptly closed the general public schemes — often known as the Afghan Relocations and Help Coverage (Arap) and Afghan Residents Resettlement Scheme.
The occasions will be reported for the primary time after the Excessive Court docket on Tuesday lifted an unparalleled international gagging order that has silenced the press since September 2023. The super-injunction was the primary ever to be obtained by the British authorities.
However a recent interim injunction granted by the Excessive Court docket till not less than subsequent week implies that even now essential particulars that specify the severity of the incident can’t be revealed.
The database was an in depth file of people who had utilized — most often unsuccessfully — underneath the general public Arap scheme, which supplied relocation to the UK for these liable to reprisals after they labored for or alongside the UK earlier than the Taliban retook energy.
UK fight operations led to Afghanistan in 2014 after 13 years, however British troops remained till a chaotic western withdrawal in 2021 that allowed the Taliban’s return.
The UK authorities didn’t uncover the leak till an nameless particular person posted screenshots of the spreadsheet on Fb in August 2023 and threatened to reveal the complete database.
One of many individuals conversant in the breach mentioned the database had been bought, not less than as soon as, for a five-figure sum.
They claimed that one of many Afghan recipients used their possession of the database as leverage to stress the federal government to relocate themselves and 14 members of the family to the UK.
The id of the soldier, or whether or not they have been sanctioned, has not been revealed by the MoD. The division has not efficiently contained the leak and it’s not recognized whether or not the Taliban has obtained the checklist.
Greater than 665 Afghans have began a collective authorized motion to sue the MoD over the info breach, searching for not less than £50,000 every, with the potential for 1000’s extra individuals to hitch the lawsuit as soon as they study of the incident and their potential publicity.
