In a dramatic disclosure on July 15, the British government revealed that thousands of Afghans-many of whom worked with UK forces during the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan-were secretly resettled in the United Kingdom under a confidential program launched after a major data breach in 2022. The clandestine initiative, now concluded, has sparked a heated debate over transparency, national security, and Britain’s moral obligations to its wartime allies.

The covert operation was triggered by a serious error in 2022 when personal details of nearly 19,000 Afghan applicants seeking refuge in the UK were accidentally leaked. This included names, contact details, and affiliations-sensitive data that, in the hands of the Taliban, could be tantamount to a death sentence. When fragments of the data surfaced online, the then-Conservative government moved quickly, establishing a secret resettlement route protected by a rarely-used legal instrument: a superinjunction. This legal shield not only barred media from reporting on the existence of the program, but also prevented acknowledgement of the injunction itself.

On July 15, Defense Secretary John Healey, speaking before the House of Commons, confirmed that the secrecy surrounding the program was no longer necessary and that the Labour government had decided to lift the superinjunction. “I have felt deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and the public,” Healey stated, underscoring the new government’s desire to bring the operation into public view.

An independent review commissioned by the government found........

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