The British government has spent over £850 million ($1.1 billion) to secretly relocate thousands of Afghan nationals after a military data leak exposed their identities, risking retaliation from the Taliban. Officials confirmed the long-concealed security breach on Tuesday, following a court order lifting reporting restrictions tied to the case.
In February 2022, an unnamed Ministry of Defence (MoD) employee accidentally emailed a spreadsheet containing sensitive details — including names, addresses, and family information — of approximately 33,000 Afghans who had worked with British forces during the NATO mission in Afghanistan. The error went undetected for over a year until fragments of the leaked data appeared on Facebook in 2023, potentially endangering up to 100,000 individuals linked to the applicants. Many faced being branded “traitors” by Taliban authorities.
To mitigate the crisis, authorities initiated Operation Rubific, a clandestine effort involving a legal “super-injunction” to suppress media coverage, alongside the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR). This emergency program resettled Afghan applicants who would normally lack eligibility for UK asylum. Defence Secretary John Healey stated that 900 primary applicants and 3,600 family members were relocated at a cost of £400 million, with an additional 600 individuals slated for relocation before the ARR’s closure, pushing total expenses to £850 million.
Contradicting these figures, a military review cited by The Times indicated nearly 24,000 affected individuals had already been brought to Britain through existing resettlement schemes. Broader relocation efforts for Afghans since the Taliban takeover could ultimately cost taxpayers £6 billion, with £2.7 billion already expended. A pending lawsuit by impacted individuals may add at least £250 million in legal liabilities.
Healey issued a public apology during a parliamentary address, acknowledging the breach occurred “three years ago under the previous government” and emphasizing that the incident “should never have happened.” His remarks followed the lifting of court-ordered secrecy measures, which had been challenged by transparency advocates.
The fallout underscores enduring challenges in safeguarding vulnerable allies post-conflict and the steep financial repercussions of bureaucratic failures. With relocation costs mounting and litigation pending, the episode highlights systemic risks in handling sensitive migrant data amid global geopolitical shifts.
