Breach of Trust: British Officials’ Identities Compromised in Afghan Data Leak

Wed Oct 22 2025 22:31:31 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

A significant data breach involving British officials, including MI6 and special forces, risks the safety of Afghans linked to the UK during the war.

Over 100 identities of British officials have been exposed in a data breach that threatens the lives of thousands of Afghans. The incident, which the government attempted to suppress, has raised serious concerns about the security of those who aided British forces during two decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

In a troubling development, the identities of more than 100 British officials, including members of the Special Air Service (SAS) and intelligence service MI6, have been compromised due to a significant data breach. This breach has placed thousands of Afghans, who worked closely with the UK during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, at heightened risk of reprisals from the Taliban. The latest revelations emerged after a High Court judge partially lifted a super-injunction that had previously kept details of the breach from the public eye.

The British government acknowledged that personal information relating to nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied for resettlement in the UK was inadvertently leaked. Many of these individuals are now assessed to be in serious peril as the Taliban actively seeks retaliation against those who collaborated with British forces during the conflict.

This incident was highlighted by a man who had been denied resettlement prior but garnered attention on social media, threatening to release further sensitive information. While the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has remained tight-lipped regarding this individual, they affirmed that entry into the UK for Afghan relocation scheme participants involves rigorous security checks.

In response to the 2023 breach, the government initiated the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) to support those in jeopardy, despite not informing the affected individuals of the data leak. So far, this scheme has successfully relocated 4,500 Afghans and their families, with an estimated additional 2,400 expected, at a projected cost of £850 million.

The breach occurred after an employee at the UK Special Forces headquarters mistakenly sent a batch of over 30,000 resettlement applications to an external party, believing he was sharing information on only 150 cases. Although the MoD reported this as a “serious departmental error,” it represents only one of multiple data losses linked to Afghan relocation efforts.

Concerns continue to mount as the Taliban claims they are not targeting individuals affected by the leak. However, families of those named in the breach have expressed profound anxieties for their relatives remaining in Afghanistan, reporting an escalation in Taliban efforts to locate them.

The MoD emphasized, "It’s longstanding policy to not comment on special forces," reiterating their commitment to the security of personnel, especially in sensitive roles. The full extent of the impact on the Afghans involved remains unknown, but the consequences of this breach illustrate a grave lapse in the safeguarding of vulnerable individuals who stood in solidarity with British forces during a tumultuous era in Afghanistan.