A British data leak once hidden by a super-injunction has now been revealed to have endangered elite UK forces and Afghan allies
More than 100 British intelligence and special forces personnel were named in a catastrophic 2022 data breach involving Afghan interpreters and military aides — a security failure now exposed following the lifting of a court-imposed super-injunction.
The leak, caused by a UK government official mistakenly releasing a sensitive spreadsheet, included the personal details of active and former members of the SAS, MI6, and other secret branches. It had originally been hidden from the public due to fears the Taliban could exploit the information for reprisals.
The breach was previously understood to affect only Afghan nationals. But today’s High Court revelations show that dozens of British officials — some with covert identities — were also caught in the exposure, significantly expanding the scale and stakes of the scandal.
During a tense session in court, journalists were finally permitted to report the full extent of the breach. It followed months of legal wrangling between the government and judges, who debated whether public interest outweighed national security concerns.
In emotional testimony, a former elite Afghan soldier — part of the UK-trained “Triples” special forces — said the breach had “shattered” any sense of safety they’d found in Britain.
“Our lives, and the lives of our families, have been thrown into fear and chaos,” he said, adding he’d received more than 50 desperate messages from Afghan allies now fearing Taliban retaliation. “We cannot afford to wait. The UK government must act.”
A female Triples member confirmed that a private meeting with a UK Ministry of Defence official took place today, where the MoD appeared to downplay Taliban threats as “psychological warfare.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she told the BBC. “Everyone knows how many of us have been tortured and killed. It’s infuriating.”
While the Taliban claims to offer amnesty to former government and military personnel, human rights organisations report a persistent campaign of detentions and killings, especially in areas run by rogue commanders or local Taliban leaders with grudges.
The original decision to impose a super-injunction was taken by then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in September 2023. The court, citing exceptional risk, granted an order not just banning the report of leaked details but also forbidding disclosure of the injunction’s existence.
That legal veil remained in place until this Tuesday, when judges finally agreed to lift it — revealing for the first time how many British names were on the list and how many Afghans had since been granted UK asylum.
Even now, a further injunction protects the most sensitive data in the leaked document from publication. But with names of British operatives now legally reportable, pressure is mounting on both past and present UK governments.
Critics say successive Conservative and Labour ministers sought to hide the scale of the breach rather than address its consequences, potentially leaving both British and Afghan lives in danger.
A full government statement is expected in Parliament later this week, with both the MoD and the Home Office facing intense scrutiny over safeguarding failures and asylum delays.
Meanwhile, the Triples — once the frontline allies of Britain in its war on terror — now live scattered in exile, haunted by a spreadsheet that was meant to remain secret.
