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How much will the Afghan data leak really cost?

10 1
22.07.2025

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – AUGUST 21: In this handout image provided by the Ministry of Defence, the British armed forces work with the U.S. military to evacuate eligible civilians and their families out of the country on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. British armed forces have been evacuation UK citizens and eligible personnel out of the Afghan capital after the Taliban took control of the country last week. (Photo by MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)

Many questions arise from the astonishing story of the Afghan data leak, but one is why the government seems to have no idea how much it will cost, says Eliot Wilson

The announcement last week by defence secretary John Healey that the government had for two years had a super-injunction to conceal a massive loss of classified data was a tough story to unpack.

It started with a soldier or Ministry of Defence civil servant accidentally leaking a spreadsheet of names and details of nearly 20,000 Afghan nationals who had assisted UK forces during our deployment, as well as their dependents, and wanted to move to Britain. The MoD was unaware of this security breach for 18 months, and when it was discovered, the then-defence secretary Ben Wallace applied to the High Court for a four-month........

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