Afghans who risked their lives alongside British soldiers have been left facing years of danger, delay and uncertainty due to Whitehall failures, a damning new report has found. The Defence Committee report revealed that hundreds of brave Afghan soldiers who served in elite units with UK forces were wrongly refused safe passage to Britain.
Some have been left at the mercy of the Taliban for years while officials deliberated. Now, 884 rejected cases involving former Afghan special forces soldiers, known as the Triples, have had to be overturned in what MPs called a "major corrective exercise".
Data breach and secrecy
The committee, composed of MPs from across parties, found that a 2022 data breach put the lives of thousands of Afghans at risk. The blunder went undiscovered for 18 months, and when it came to light, ministers imposed a superinjunction, gagging the press and Parliament for almost two years.
Committee chairman Tan Dhesi said the scandal had escalated from a simple data breach into a story about "real lives affected by delay, secrecy and flawed decision-making". He added: "The Government must now explain how it will protect eligible Afghans who cannot safely, lawfully or affordably reach a third country for UK entry-clearance checks."
Concerns over resettlement policy
Mr Dhesi warned: "The broader picture is deeply troubling. The Ministry of Defence should stick to defence – it should never have been left to run immigration casework schemes. Secrecy has been too easily used as a shield against proper accountability in areas far removed from sensitive operations."
MPs also raised fears that the Government's current "self-move" policy could abandon eligible Afghans too poor or in too much danger to travel to a third country for vetting. The committee said sensitivity around special forces operations must never again be used as an excuse to dodge scrutiny of basic administrative blunders.
MPs are demanding ministers publish a clear plan for those still stranded and reveal who was responsible for the catastrophic security failure.
MoD response
A spokesperson for the MoD said: "This incident should never have happened, and we acknowledge the significant impact it has had on many people. Thousands of eligible Afghans have already been safely relocated to the UK, where they can rebuild their lives, and we are committed to ensuring that we conclude the Afghan Resettlement Programme by the end of this Parliament. We are learning the lessons from this incident and important reforms are already in place, including improved data protection standards, strengthened case-working processes and better programme governance. We welcome the public and parliamentary scrutiny of our actions, so we can learn more and be held to account, and we’ll continue to work closely with the committee on this issue."
