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Jul 22, 2025  |  
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Beth Bailey


NextImg:Deadly UK-Taliban leak is a warning to the US -

On July 15, the Daily Mail reported on a data leak from the United Kingdom that forced the British Ministry of Defense to carry out a 23-month cover-up of a £6 billion, or $8.1 billion, “smuggling” operation to bring tens of thousands of Afghans into the country.

In February 2022, a British soldier sent a list to a contact in Afghanistan that contained information for 33,000 Afghans deemed ineligible for protection in the U.K. under the Afghan Resettlement and Placement scheme. The recipient passed the list on.

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The breach was only discovered in August 2023, when an individual on Facebook threatened to leak the document. Fearing they may have gifted the Taliban a “kill list” of British allies, the U.K. began informing those on the database that their information might have been compromised.

The Daily Mail also learned of the leak in August 2023 but was forbidden to report about it when the High Court issued a rare “superinjunction,” ostensibly to protect Afghans whom the Ministry of Defense deemed were “at risk of death, torture, intimidation or harassment.”

While media were aware of the leak, taxpayers and Parliament were not. An internal government message shared by the Daily Mail describes how His Majesty’s Government would address the influx of Afghan refugees to Parliament and the public in a manner that “provides context for the increased numbers without disclosing information relating to the incident.”

Another internal government message describes how the leak forced the relocation of “more Afghans to the U.K. than have been relocated under the ARAP scheme, at a time when the U.K.’s immigration and asylum system is under significant strain.”

Obscuring the details of its endeavor, the Ministry of Defense was expected to spend £7.23 billion, or $9.76 billion, to smuggle Afghans out of their country and fly them to the U.K. through what it dubbed the Afghan Response Route.

One in 10 of the relocated Afghans was expected to “enter the homelessness system.”

After news of the leak and cover-up hit the media, Defense Secretary John Healey said there would be “no new offers of relocation” but that 600 invitations previously sent to Afghans would be honored.

Only 23,900 Afghans have received assistance through the initiative, 9,500 fewer than originally planned. This lowered the price tag for the operation to just £6 billion, or $8.1 billion. However, over 900 Afghans are currently attempting to sue the U.K. for leaking their information, which could add another $1.3 billion to the cost of the endeavor.

Since its release, news of the incident has dominated British media headlines. Westminster lobbyist Art Conaghan said it was “a monumental security blunder for the Ministry of Defence — not just domestically, but in the eyes of our closest allies. It has strained trust with our U.S. military and intelligence partners, endangered Afghans left behind, and — in true British fashion — saw the commanding officer responsible, promoted.”

Conaghan lamented, “In a climate of mass migration and collapsing public trust, this only deepens the sense that Britain is nearing a social breaking point.”

The geopolitical implications of the leak cannot be understated.

In addition to Afghan allies, the leaked list also included information about “dozens” of British military personnel, spies, and officials involved in discussions of Afghans’ eligibility for travel to the U.K. According to the Daily Mail, British defense sources say the database contains “details about special forces, MI6 agents, and other highly sensitive information” and may have put members of the U.K. Special Forces at risk.

With the increasing normalization in relations between China and Afghanistan and Russia’s recognition of the Taliban government in July, these vital intelligence details could make it into unfriendly hands.

For Afghans, the leak may have already proven deadly. While neither photographs nor addresses for affected Afghans were reportedly shared, details of their family names, locations, phone numbers, and email addresses could be used to track, identify, and either harass or persecute those who worked against the Taliban during nearly two decades of war.

On July 20, the Daily Mail reported that 10 Afghans have been murdered in Taliban reprisals since news of the leak broke last week. It is possible that four of the dead, killed in Badakhshan province, were former Afghan Special Forces members who worked alongside the U.K.

BORDER SECURITY IS TEMPORARY, AMNESTY IS PERMANENT

The leak should serve as a warning to the diverse U.S. groups and government institutions in possession of critical information about our own Afghan allies of the dangers continually posed by the Taliban’s burgeoning acceptance among our enemies and reprisal campaign against our allies. 

Moreover, it should remind the U.S. government that Afghans who served by our side but now face the loss of temporary protected status, parole, or access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program continue to face a perilous future if returned to their homeland.

Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.