The Britain has welcomed thousands of Afghans who had worked for the British government and their families following a massive leak of their data in 2022, the British Defence Secretary, John Healey, has announced, revealing a program that had previously been kept secret.

The personal information of some 19,000 Afghans, who were asylum in the UK after working for British authorities before the Taliban returned to power, was leaked in 2022.

The leak, led in 2024 to the implementation of a secret reception program for Afghans whose safety had been compromised.

“To date, 900 main beneficiaries (of the program) are in the UK or transiting the country, accompanied by 3,600 family members at a cost of around £400 million (€460.7 million),” John Healey told the House of Commons.

Around 600 more Afghans and their relatives are expected to be accommodated in the UK before the program ends. In total, around 6,900 people are therefore expected to be settled in the country under this program.

By the end of the programme the cost of the programme is expected to reach approximately £850 million (€979 million).

“This serious incident by the standards should never have happened,” the defence minister said. “To all those whose personal information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology on behalf of the British government today,” he added.

The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the leak in the summer of 2023, when personal information began to be posted anonymously on a Facebook group.

The names and coordinates of the Afghans, who were seeking asylum in the UK after working for the British, were then revealed, as well as the identities of their family members.

In September 2023, the Conservative government then in power had asked the High Court for an order preventing the transmission of any information surrounding the leak, in order to reduce the risk of the Taliban learning of the existence of this data.

According to British media, the measure, which came down today, is the longest such order of its kind and is the first time the government has sought such a restrictive measure involving the media.

A total of 36,000 Afghans have been admitted to the UK under various schemes since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.