UK reveals secret US$1.1 billion resettlement of thousands of Afghans after data leak
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The government now plans to close the secret route.
Defence Secretary John Healey said a data set containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to come to Britain after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was released in error in 2022, and extracts were later published online.
That prompted the then-Conservative government to set up a secret programme to resettle the Afghans. The government obtained a court order known as a superinjunction that barred anyone from revealing its existence.
The injunction was lifted on Tuesday in conjunction with a decision by Britain's current Labour Party government to make the programme public. It said an independent review had found little evidence that the leaked data would expose Afghans to greater risk of retribution from the Taliban.
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'I have felt deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and the public,' Healey told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
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