Potentially the worst data leak I’ve ever heard of has just come to light, two years after it actually took place, seemingly after a substantial effort to cover it up by the British government.

In summary, after the catastrophic “betrayal” that was the withdrawal of UK (and US) troops from Afghanistan after twenty years of conflict in 2021 took place, the UK set up a scheme - the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or “ARAP” - where Afghan locals who had helped out with the UK military effort over there could apply to seek safe haven in the UK. This was on the basis that the fact that they worked with us against the Taliban would obviously make them key targets for the Taliban’s cruelty.

A list was assembled of the thousands Afghan folks that had applied for the scheme and their families. Predictably, most of them received no help from the UK at all, so remained in Afghanistan, facing the substantial afore-mentioned risks.

In an extra layer of horror, what has just come to light is that the list of applications - i.e. the list of people who had worked against the Taliban to further British efforts - was leaked. Two years ago.

It seems that we don’t know by whom or why. But we do know that the Ministry of Defence found out about it in 2023 after the data had been posted to, wait for it, a Facebook group.

…it contained 33,000 records among which was “personal information associated to 18,714 Afghans who had applied either to the ex gratia or the Arap [Afghan relocations and assistance policy] scheme on or before 7 January 2022.

As well as:

…details of MPs, senior military officers and government officials linked to individual claims.

The parts of the Conservative UK government who know about this list rightly feared that were the Taliban to become aware of this list then the people on it might be in great danger if seen as “collaborators” by the new Afghani regime and their hangers on.

However, defence secretary Ben Wallace took out a super-injunction such that no-one was allowed to acknowledge the existence of this list outside of the few people that already knew. Various defence secretaries of both major political parties in the UK have kept the injunction going since then.

Journalists started hearing about it but were legally unable to report on it. The vulnerable people who featured on the list were not allowed to be told about it, or even asked to take special precautions, just in case it raised questions. Those most at risk would have no way of knowing that their data was out there in the public domain.

Most British government ministers remained in the dark.

All in all, it was subject to a fairly unique amount of secrecy, until earlier this week - 2 years later - when the super injunction was finally lifted. Just as, it seems, the Afghan Response Route scheme which had been put in place to help the people unknowingly on the list to come to relative safety in the UK was pre-emptively closed, seemingly on the basis that it cost a bit too much money to help save the lives of the people that had risked life and limb to help our failure of a war effort.

This, cruelly, leaves not far off 10,000 people stuck in Afghanistan who I suppose, now at least know they face an enhanced level of risk - but have very few options in terms of mitigating it.

Says a lawyer with a firm who is representing some of the people affected:

This is essentially a database for anyone who wants to know who assisted the armed forces in Afghanistan. If you’re someone whose family member or friend was killed by these individuals I’m sure you will want to take vengeance.

One of the reporters who learned what was going on very early on is a host on the podcast The News Agents. This episode from a couple of days ago, when one of the hosts, Lewis, could finally tell the story that he’d been forced to conceal for the past two years, is quite illuminating on the frustration and possible dangers of exactly what went on.

We should be ashamed. Again.