Afghanistan Peace Campaign-
The personal details of serving and former members of UK special forces, and the security services, were included in the Afghan data breach, it can now be reported
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In total, the details of more than 100 British officials were released in February 2022, alongside thousands of Afghans’ details
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The breach happened when a British official leaked a spreadsheet by mistake – it was later subject to a super-injunction, meaning no details could be reported. Here’s a timeline of key events
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It was already a huge scandal, writes Joel Gunter from the High Court, and now we can report the breach was much worse than we thought
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British spies and SAS named in Afghan data breach
Adam Durbin
Live reporterThe controversy around the leak of information related to thousands of Afghans who worked with British forces has worsened, with the revelation that personal details of sensitive UK military personnel were also released.
We’ve learned today from the High Court that more than 100 British officials’ details were leaked alongside Afghans nationals in February 2022, including serving and former members of the special forces and spies.
Questions are also circulating around the government’s – both former Conservative and current Labour – attempts to suppress the news legally, employing until recently a super-injunction banning all reporting on the scandal.
If you’d like to read a full report on today’s developments, our reporter at the High Court Joel Gunter has put together a full summary of the case here.
We’ve also got a piece speaking to relatives of Afghans whose names were released, who have told the BBC they fear retribution from the Taliban as a result.
For a full summary of exactly what we know so far about the evolving scandal, our explainer has you covered.
We’ll be closing our live coverage here, thanks for joining us.
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Meeting took place between former Afghan Special Forces and MoD today – source
Joe Inwood
World news correspondentI’ve also spoken to one of the female members of the “Triples”. She tells me that a meeting took place today between former Afghan Special Forces and someone from the UK Ministry of Defence. She wasn’t there, but has spoken to people who were.
“The representative of the Ministry of Défense was saying, ‘Don’t worry, today’s threat from the Taliban is just a psychological war. They haven’t harmed anyone so far,’” she says.
She says there was a sense of real anger among the Afghans there. “The whole world knows how many military personnel have been killed and tortured in the past few years. I don’t know why the Ministry of Defence said such a thing. It was really ridiculous.”
We have reached out to the Ministry of Defence for a response and will bring it to you when we have it.
The Taliban has stated publicly that there is an amnesty for former members of the Afghan National Government and the armed forces, but despite that we’ve been told of people being tortured and killed, it’s believed by local Taliban figures, often with a score to settle. The Taliban has previously denied this.
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‘A matter of life and death’
Joe Inwood
World news correspondentI’ve been covering the story of former Afghan Special Forces, known as the “Triples”, for nearly two years now. Since news of the data breach emerged, some have got back in touch. They have spoken of their fear and anger at what one said was “more than a technical error. It’s a matter of life and death.”
We’re not using his name, but we have previously confirmed this man’s service with 333, the most elite unit of the Afghan army. “Our lives, and the lives of our families, have been thrown into fear and chaos,” he tells me.
Despite being safely in the UK, he says he is “terrified that the Taliban could use the data leak to track us down. The sense of safety we hoped to find in the UK has been shattered.”
We’ve spoken to around a dozen former soldiers and officers over the years, and without exception their biggest fear is for those who were left behind.
“Our brothers, sisters, uncles, parents now face an even greater risk of being found, arrested, or killed by the Taliban. Many are already on the move, relocating from one place to another to avoid being discovered. They’re living in constant fear.”
He went on to say that “since the breach was made public, I’ve received over 50 calls and emails from people who are desperate, terrified, and sleepless. They are begging for help, but I don’t have the power to protect them. Some tell me they expect the Taliban to knock on their door at any moment.”
Without exception, the Triples we spoke to were intensely proud of the work they did with the UK military. It is for that reason they felt such a sense of betrayal at the way they were treated by the British government.
Both Afghan and British soldiers felt the Triples had earned the right to protection. He told me that obligation is even greater now. “I urge the UK government to act immediately: evacuate those at risk, offer real protection, and take responsibility before lives are lost. We cannot afford to wait.”
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What is a super-injunction and why was one put in place?
Ben Wallace was the defence secretary at the timeThe Afghan data breach all occurred when Ben Wallace was the defence secretary. At the time, he made an application to the High Court on 1 September 2023, seeking an injunction which would criminalise making the leak public.
The Taliban could seek out the list and use it to target people, the government feared.
Mr Justice Knowles said the request was “exceptional” and went “further” than the government had asked, upgrading it to a super-injunction. This made it illegal to both reveal details of the leak and refer to the existence of the court order.
It was regularly reviewed by another judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, who in November 2023 said it was the first injunction of its kind and raised freedom of speech concerns.
He sought to lift the order the following May but the government appealed and it remained before being lifted on Tuesday – when the details of the data breach, the government’s response, and the number of Afghans given the right to live in the UK was revealed.
Another injunction was granted to prevent some of the most sensitive details in the leaked document being made public. Then today, restrictions on the names of British nationals – including spies and special forces – that were on the spreadsheet, were lifted.
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No comment from MoD on special forces revelation
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson has said it’s the “longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on special forces”, following the revelation that the personal details of serving and former members of UK special forces, and the security services, were included in the 2022 Afghan data breach.
“We take the security of our personnel very seriously, particularly of those in sensitive positions, and always have appropriate measures in place to protect their security,” the spokesperson says.
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‘It’s not about if – it’s when the Taliban get him’
Adam Hale and Fazel Ahmad Yalghoz
BBC News and BBC World ServiceRahim – not his real name – says his father-in-law learned on Tuesday that his name was on the leaked list.
The Taliban intensified their efforts to track his father-in-law down in 2023 and 2024, he tells the BBC, adding that he can now understand why. Rahim fears it is only a matter of time before they succeed. “It’s not about if – it’s when the Taliban get him,” he says.
Rahim, now 42 and living in the UK, knows all too well about Taliban score-settling. Two of his cousins were killed by the group in the two years before it seized power.
A couple of years later, the target of such revenge appeared to be his father-in-law, who is currently in hiding.
“We couldn’t work it out, why [from 2023] there was a sudden spike in the hunt by the Taliban to capture him,” Rahim says.
“We can’t say for sure, but we believe they have access to that data.”
Rahim says his father-in-law provided evidence of these attempts to hunt him down to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), most recently last December – his third attempt to be resettled in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap).
He says his father-in-law’s previous applications through the scheme were turned down because it was decided he had not worked directly with the UK government.
The MoD says it will not comment on individual cases, and that a review into the data breach carried out in 2025 had concluded that there was limited evidence that certain individuals had been targeted with any degree of consistency as a result of it.
There’s more to Rahim’s story, which you can read in the full report here.
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What data was leaked?
A spreadsheet containing the personal details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK in order to flee the Taliban was accidentally leaked by an official working at UK Special Forces headquarters in February 2022.
That unnamed official emailed the document outside of the government team processing Afghan relocation applications and it made its way into the public domain.
The police decided no investigation was needed. The BBC has confirmed he is no longer in the post he occupied at the time of the breach.
The leaked document contained the names, contact details and, in some cases, family information of a huge number of people who believed their association with British forces during the Afghanistan war could leave them at risk of harm.
And now we’re also reporting that the personal details of serving and former members of UK special forces, and the security services, were included in the breach.
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This shows how important the super-injunction was – former army commander
We’ve just heard from former UK and Nato senior officer Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, who says the latest breach revelation shows “just how important” the super-injunction was.
The Ministry of Defence will have to make sure the damage is limited, he adds, and have very tight security measures in the future.
“We are in an era now when the keyboard is as dangerous – if not more dangerous – than weapons of war,” he adds.
“It shows how important that super-injunction was”, says Hamish de Bretton-Gordon
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Lib Dems call for immediate inquiry into ‘devastating scandal’
The Liberal Democrats have called for an inquiry after the news that personal details of UK special forces and spies were included in the Afghan data breach.
MP Helen Maguire – a former military captain – says “the more we find out about this data leak, the worse it gets”.
She says special forces’ confidential details “should never have been somewhere where they could accidentally be shared”.
“Both Afghans at risk for their brave work supporting the British operation – and the UK operatives who facilitated it – were put in immense danger thanks to the incompetence of the MOD under the Conservatives,” she adds.
As a result, Maguire calls on the government to “immediately launch an inquiry” into the “devastating scandal”.
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Afghan whose data was leaked fears for brothers still in Afghanistan
Hafizullah Maroof
BBC Afghan ServiceAs we’ve reported, most of the people affected by the February 2022 data leak – which was first revealed earlier this week – were Afghans.
Asif [not his real name], 27, worked for more than three years in the “Triples” – Afghan special forces trained by the British Army in Afghanistan. The Triples used to participate in joint operations with British Army against the Taliban across the county.
Asif was brought to the UK six weeks ago from Islamabad – he was told to move to Pakistan to be evacuated, and waited for three months there.
But it was only in the past week he was told his details were in the data breach.
“I was notified two days ago and received an email from MoD about the data breach,” he says. “I was not told about the breach when I was in Afghanistan.”
Asif adds: “I have more fears about family – particularly about my three brothers who live in Afghanistan. I really wish nothing happens to them since they were not part of any military operation with me.
“I proud that I have served my country, I don’t regret it, but I am disappointed by the data breach. I have many colleagues fought with us shoulder to shoulder but they left in Afghanistan.”
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Afghan who published part of leaked data was able to come to UK
Joel Gunter
Reporting from the High CourtWe revealed last night that the Ministry of Defence offered to expedite a review of one Afghan’s resettlement application after he obtained the leaked dataset and posted part of it on Facebook.
The BBC understands that the man had previously been rejected for resettlement, but was brought to the UK after posting names from the data on Facebook and indicating that he could release the rest.
Government sources with knowledge of the events told the BBC that the individual “essentially blackmailed” the government into bringing him to the UK.
The BBC understands the man did not face any criminal charges in relation to use of the leaked data.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment about the individual’s specific case, but told the BBC that “anyone who comes to the UK under any Afghan relocation schemes” must go through “robust security checks in order to gain entry”.
The BBC also approached the Met Police for comment.
Read the full story here.
How bad can this get?
Frank Gardner
Security correspondentFor a case officer in the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), having your name and details outed in public is potentially a career-killer.
For serving and former members of the highly secretive Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) such leaks can in theory expose them to the risk of threat to life, given the operations some will have taken part in that involved the deaths or capture of individuals.
The revelation today that 100 or more names and details of British operatives were included in this unauthorised data breach is certainly shocking. But the leak was – belatedly – discovered in August 2023.
That has given the UK Intelligence and SF Communities nearly two years to come up with ways to mitigate this disaster. Among the worse case scenarios they will have had to consider is that Russia, China and Iran may also now be in possession of those leaked names.
But for now, those who have most to fear are the 600 former Afghan government soldiers and their estimated 1,800 relatives who are still in Afghanistan.
Whatever routes out that were being suggested to them will have now been compromised and the publicity surrounding this whole story will have re-energised some within the Taliban to hunt down those on the list and exact what they perceive as rightful revenge.e
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A timeline of key events
The leak of personal information of Afghans trying to flee the Taliban and come to the UK was more extensive than previously disclosed. Let’s take a look at a timeline of how events unfolded:
- February 2022: The details of nearly 19,000 people are leaked by mistake by a British official
- August 2023: A Facebook post with some details from the spreadsheet goes online
- 1 Sept 2023: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) files a super-injunction blocking the leak from going public
- 23 November 2023: The super-injunction is extended, on the basis that the Taliban may not have been aware of the data
- April 2024: A resettlement scheme is set up for Afghans on the list
- 21 May 2024: The injunction is nearly lifted after a judge rules in favour. The MoD appeals and wins, but the Court of Appeal says it must be reviewed every three months
- 15 July 2025: The details of the data breach, the government’s response, and the number of Afghans given the right to live in the UK is revealed
- 17 July 2025: We learn that the names of British nationals – including spies and special forces – were on the spreadsheet
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Why the latest revelation was allowed to be reported
Joel Gunter
Reporting from the High CourtVery little was said in court today that the public was allowed to hear – but what was said paved the way for the dramatic revelation that current and former members of the UK’s special forces and security services were compromised by this leak.
The judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, told the court that the barristers for the Ministry of Defence and for a group of media organisations had reached a compromise in a closed-door hearing.
That meant that the media organisations involved in the case – including The Mail, Global Media and the Independent – could now report that sensitive British officials were in the leak.
That revelation had been prevented by an injunction issued earlier this week, but then Defence Secretary John Healey said in Parliament on Tuesday that a “small number” of senior military officials, MPs and other government officials had been affected.
Then on Wednesday the Sun newspaper reported that special forces and spies were involved. It was enough to push the group of media organisations in this case to request an emergency hearing and ask the judge to lift the restrictions on them.
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The data breach was much worse than we thought
Joel Gunter
Reporting from the High CourtIt was already a huge scandal earlier this week, when the country learned that the details of thousands of Afghans at risk from the Taliban had been accidentally leaked by someone in UK Special Forces headquarters, and a secret scheme had been set up to bring them to the UK.
Today we can report that the data breach was much worse than previously thought: it contained personal details of more than 100 British officials including those whose identities are most closely guarded – special forces and spies.
In the light of today’s revelations, it is no wonder that the British government obtained an unprecedented super-injunction, a kind of gagging order that prevents the reporting of even the existence of the injunction.
Taken together, the leak of the personal information of both at-risk Afghans and some of the most sensitive officials in the UK make this one of the worst security breaches in modern British history.
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Special forces’ identities are tightly kept secrets
BreakingJoel Gunter
Reporting from the High CourtThe security breach was kept under wraps by an injunction until today, when the gagging order was lifted in part by a High Court judge.
Details of more than 100 British officials were included in the leaked data, which may have fallen into the hands of the Taliban.
The identities of members of the UK’s special forces regiments, including the SAS and SBS, and the identities of people working in the security services are tightly kept secrets.
The breach occurred in February 2022, when a database was accidentally emailed outside of government by an individual working at UK Special Forces headquarters in London.
The database also contained the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had worked with the British during the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan and had applied to be resettled to the UK after the Taliban retook control in 2021.
Many of those who had applied were judged to be at risk of serious harm or even death as the Taliban sought revenge against those who had worked with the British government during the war.
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More than 100 British people included in Afghan data leak
The details of more than 100 British people – including spies and special forces – were included in a massive data leak that resulted in thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK.
