Thousands of Afghans including many who worked with British forces have been secretly resettled in the U.K. after a leak of data on their identities raised fears that the Taliban could target them.

A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to Britain was released in error in 2022, and extracts were later published online.

The UK government set up a secret Afghan relocation scheme after the personal data of thousands of people was inadvertently leaked, it can be revealed. A dataset containing the details of nearly 19,000 people who applied to move to the UK following the Taliban takeover of the country was released in error by a British defence official in February 2022.