The U.K. government secretly resettled thousands of Afghans into the country following a data leak that reportedly jeopardized the lives of local allies.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey revealed the clandestine operation to the House of Commons on Tuesday, offering a “sincere apology” for the superinjunction that classified approximately 4,500 resettlements and blocked the press from reporting on the matter.
“That superinjunction has been in place for nearly two years, during which time eight media organizations and their journalists have been served to prohibit any reporting,” he told Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle. “And no government wishes to withhold information from the British public, from parliamentarians or the press in this manner.”
According to Healey, an unidentified defense official errantly emailed a casework file for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy “outside of authorized government systems” in February 2022.
The ARAP is a relocation program for “Afghan citizens who worked for or with the U.K. Government in Afghanistan in exposed or meaningful roles.”
The spreadsheet that was erroneously shared outside secure channels contained the names of almost 20,000 individuals who were applying for the relocation program, many of whom were cooperators with the U.K. government over the course of the nation’s military campaign.
Names, contact details, and even family information were reportedly contained in the sensitive document, which government officials feared could be used to hunt down enemies of the Taliban after the terrorist group took control of the country in 2021.
When the previous government became aware of the data leak in late 2023, it established a relocation system and began bringing in affected individuals approximately nine months later.
Approximately 900 applicants to the program have been brought to the United Kingdom since the program was launched, according to the government. They were joined by approximately 3,600 family members.
So far, the relocations have cost the U.K. approximately £400 million ($535 million), and a further £400-450 million is expected.
Healey said the migrants were properly vetted and tallied in government migration statistics.
“I want to provide assurance, Mr. Speaker — both to the House and the British public — that all individuals relocated under the Afghanistan Response Route, ARAP, or the Home Office’s ACRS undergo strict national security checks before being able to enter our country,” he said in the House of Commons.
He continued, “And the full number of Afghan arrivals under all schemes has been reported in the regular Home Office statistics, meaning they are already counted in existing migration figures.”
Healey said that moving forward, the program will not extend new invitations for resettlement and will honor the approximately 600 standing offers to individuals and their immediate families.
A total of approximately 36,000 Afghans have been relocated to the U.K. since the fall of Kabul.
The relocation and protection of Afghans who aided the United States in its Middle East military campaigns is a matter that persists domestically.
Tens of thousands of U.S.-allied Afghans remain in legal limbo inside and outside Afghanistan.
TRUMP TO MAKE AN UNPRECEDENTED SECOND STATE VISIT TO THE UK
Former President Joe Biden was criticized for failing to properly prepare a route for translators and other allies to escape the Taliban during the botched withdrawal from Kabul.
President Donald Trump’s widespread rollbacks on Temporary Protected Status programs, Special Immigrant Visas, and the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program have also stalled relocations.