Thousands of Afghans have been brought to Britain in secrecy after a data leak

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of Afghans, including many who worked with British forces, have been secretly resettled in the U.K. after a leak of data on their identities raised fears that the Taliban could target them, the British government revealed Tuesday.

The government said it is closing the program, which a rare court order had barred the media from disclosing.

“To all those whose information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology today,” Defense Secretary John Healey said in the House of Commons. He said he regretted the secrecy and “have felt deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and the public.”

Healey told lawmakers that a spreadsheet containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who had applied to come to Britain after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was accidentally released in 2022 because of a defense official’s email error. The government only became aware of the leak when some of the data was published on Facebook 18 months later.

https://apnews.com/article/britain-afghanistan-refugees-31c4e3c2746ba409fa72f76430b93020