Thousands of Afghans win U.K. asylum after huge data breach

Ottawa Citizen

5 days ago

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London — Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.K. and their families were brought to Britain in a secret program after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, the British government revealed on Tuesday.
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Defence Minister John Healey unveiled the scheme to parliament after the U.K. High Court on Tuesday lifted a super-gag order banning any reports of the events.
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In February 2022, a spreadsheet containing the names and details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had asked to be relocated to Britain was accidentally leaked by a U.K. official just six months after Taliban fighters seized Kabul, Healey said.
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'This was a serious departmental error,' Healey said, adding: 'Lives may have been at stake.'
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The previous Conservative government put in place a secret program in April 2024 to help those 'judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban', he said.
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Some 900 Afghans and 3,600 family members have now been brought to Britain or are in transit under the program known as the Afghan Response Route, at a cost of around 400 million pounds, Healey said.
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Applications from 600 more people have also been accepted, bringing the estimated total cost of the scheme to 850 million pounds.
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They are among some 36,000 Afghans who have been accepted by Britain under different schemes since the August 2021 fall of Kabul.
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As Labour's opposition defence spokesman, Healey was briefed on the scheme in December 2023 but the Conservative government asked a court to impose a 'super-injunction' banning any mention of it in parliament or by the press.
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When Labour came to power in July 2024, the scheme was in full swing but Healey said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable to be constrained from reporting' to parliament.
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'Ministers decided not to tell parliamentarians at an earlier stage about the data incident, as the widespread publicity would increase the risk of the Taliban obtaining the dataset,' he explained.
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Healey set up a review of the scheme when he became defence minister in the new Labour government.
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This concluded there was 'very little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution'.
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The Afghan Response Route has now been closed, the minister said, apologizing for the data breach which 'should never have happened'.