The MoD Afghan leak is a national embarrassment

Some days the British state really does embarrass itself. It can now be revealed that a Ministry of Defence data leak has cost the UK some £7billion and put thousands of Afghans at risk of death. A dataset containing the details of nearly 19,000 people who applied to move to the UK following the Taliban takeover was released in error by a British defence official in February 2022.

Ministers were informed of the debacle in August 2023; since then, an unprecedented super-injunction has been in place to stop the press from reporting details. Today, the full details of that leak can finally be revealed. The unauthorised data breach was committed by a soldier as he tried to help verify applications for sanctuary in Britain. The data related to thousands of Afghans who worked with international forces following the 2001 invasion of the country. All had applied for the much-criticised Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) scheme.

After details of the leak appeared online, a highly-secretive mission, codenamed Operation Rubific, was launched to stop details of the breach becoming public. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was earmarked to handle the fallout, which included the biggest covert evacuation operation in peacetime. Almost 24,000 Afghans affected by the breach have been brought to the UK already or will be in the future. Most of them are here already.

The removal of the super injunction followed an independent review, ordered by John Healey, the Defence Secretary. Carried out by the retired civil servant Paul Rimmer, the review concluded that early concerns about the intent of the Taliban to target those on the list had ‘diminished’. In his statement to the House of Commons today, Healey put on his gravest face possible. He offered an apology on behalf of the British state and said he was ‘deeply uncomfortable’ about being previously unable to tell MPs about the leak. However, he argued, that ‘many lives’ had been at stake from Taliban revenge attacks.

Healey suggested that parliament and its select committees would now be able to criticise the government to the full. That is a masterclass in understatement. Given the way in which these decisions were taken in a complete vacuum of scrutiny, expect the criticism from the public, the press and parliament to be swift, damning and furious.