RASC News Agency: The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted to nearly fifty incidents of data breaches involving the personal information of Afghanistani nationals who worked alongside British forces during the two-decade war in Afghanistan. The revelation has reignited deep concern over the government’s handling of sensitive data, while once again highlighting the precarious situation of thousands of Britain’s former allies now left exposed to the Taliban’s vengeance.
According to a detailed report published on Thursday, October 23, by Public Technology, David Williams, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, informed Parliament in an official letter that these breaches occurred under two critical government initiatives: the Afghanistan’s Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Locally Employed Staff Reward Scheme. Both programs were established to protect and resettle individuals who had risked their lives to support British operations in Afghanistan and who remain prime targets of Taliban retaliation.
Williams disclosed that although nearly fifty data breaches had been identified, only five of them were formally reported to the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The majority of the incidents, he explained, were the result of human error particularly during email and WhatsApp communications. In multiple cases, ministry employees mistakenly used the standard “CC” field instead of “BCC,” thereby exposing the names, email addresses, and locations of hundreds of Afghanistani applicants to other recipients. Such errors had already occurred in 2021, when the MoD was fined £350,000 for an almost identical mishap that compromised the identities of Afghanistani interpreters still stranded under Taliban rule.
The most serious incident, Williams added, took place in February 2022, when the personal data of more than 18,000 Afghanistani applicants for UK resettlement was inadvertently leaked. That breach, however, remained shrouded in secrecy until July 2025, when a confidential court order preventing its disclosure was finally lifted. While not all cases were reported to the ICO, the regulator has since described the MoD’s reporting approach as “acceptable,” though lawmakers and human rights advocates have sharply criticized the ministry’s lack of transparency and urgency.
In response to the revelations, the Defence Committee of the British Parliament has launched an extensive inquiry into the breaches and is expected to hold public hearings in the coming weeks. The investigation will examine how the ministry’s internal procedures allowed such critical errors to occur, and why systemic reforms promised after the 2021 leak appear to have failed.
The disclosures have once again pushed cybersecurity and data protection in UK government departments to the forefront of public debate. Yet the issue extends far beyond bureaucratic inefficiency. For thousands of Afghanistani partners still awaiting asylum or relocation decisions, each data breach could amount to a death sentence. Many remain in hiding, fearing Taliban informants who continue to hunt down those associated with Western forces.
The Taliban regime whose rule thrives on fear, censorship, and targeted retribution has consistently persecuted interpreters, aid workers, and civil servants who cooperated with international missions. By exposing their personal details, these breaches have effectively amplified the Taliban’s reach, placing Britain’s former allies at greater risk than ever before.
Analysts argue that the scandal underscores a deeper moral failure within Western governments: the retreat from their commitments to those who defended democratic ideals in one of the world’s most repressive environments. While the Taliban tightens its authoritarian grip on Afghanistan silencing women, executing dissenters, and dismantling the nation’s institutions the mishandling of personal data in London serves as a painful reminder of the West’s wavering sense of responsibility.
As the investigations unfold, one question grows more urgent: if Britain cannot safeguard even the digital identities of those who once protected its soldiers, what hope remains for the thousands still trapped under a regime that punishes loyalty and glorifies brutality?
