Ministers would repeat the Afghan superinjunction scandal - as row breaks out over thousands who served Britain who are now 'abandoned' to Taliban reprisals

Ministers castigated over the Afghan superinjunction scandal that shut out democracy have vowed they would do the same again.

MPs and the public were kept in the dark with the unprecedented legal gagging order to hush up a devastating data breach in which they had accidentally put 100,000 Afghans at ‘risk of death’.

Now it has emerged they would do the same again if necessary - as they admit thousands we owe sanctuary to still cannot escape vengeful Taliban warlords.

Today a row broke out after the Ministry of Defence revealed thousands who are owed a debt of gratitude by the UK, such as by serving as frontline interpreters with British troops, have yet to make it to safety.

One campaigner said it ‘breaks my heart to have to tell them they are abandoned’.

Afghans are facing a new crackdown by the Taliban warlords who now run Afghanistan, with more than a dozen recently arrested including five said to have had their heads shaven and to have been beaten. 

Today the Commons’ Defence select committee hit out at the MOD for ignoring recommendations in their landmark report earlier this year.

Ministers had solemnly pledged to help those eligible Afghans still left behind, but in April this year it added a tough requirement for them to ‘self-move’ out of harm’s way to another country within 12 months, before coming to the UK.

Senior MPs on the committee, which published its report in July, said they were ‘particularly concerned’ that ministers - in their response - had ignored their recommendation to set out clear steps to help them.

Chair of the Defence Committee Tan Dhesi MP said: ‘We are talking about people who risked their lives supporting British forces and who have already endured years of fear and uncertainty. Yet ministers still have not said clearly what help will be available to those who can't get themselves out of Afghanistan.’

Some 3,000 Afghans who have been told they can come to Britain because of the threats they face and their work for the UK have been denied UK help to escape. Many are desperate and unable to afford the inflated prices for visas to Tajikistan, the gateway to relocation. 

One told he can have sanctuary in Britain has been asked to find $10,000 (£7,400) for visas for him and his family. ‘It is an impossible figure for us to find,’ said the 54 year-old Afghan - who worked with British forces and spies - from his hiding place in Kabul. 

In its response to the committee’s hard-hitting report, the Government said it had seen ‘early evidence showing that people can self-move and are making plans to’.

But the MPs said half the Afghans offered British sanctuary had yet to ‘safely, lawfully or affordably self-move’ to a third country, from where they can come to the UK.

Professor Sara de Jong, a founding member of the Sulha Alliance which campaigns for former military interpreters and others left behind, said: ‘I share the deep disappointment expressed by the Defence Select Committee chair with the Government's response.

‘The committee did an excellent, thorough investigation, but the Government now willingly ignores its important recommendations.’

She said: ‘The Government's response will only increase despair among Afghans who are accepted for relocation but can simply not safely, lawfully or affordably move to a third country. It breaks my heart to have to tell them they are abandoned.’

The committee spent a year investigating the MoD’s catastrophic leak of a database of Afghans who had applied to the UK for sanctuary. Bungling defence officials lost their personal data – leading to fears vengeful Taliban warlords would hunt down and murder ‘traitors’ such as interpreters who had worked alongside British troops during the UK’s two decades in Afghanistan.

After the Daily Mail discovered the data breach in August 2023, ministers obtained a superinjunction to prevent anyone finding out – with journalists facing jail if they breathed a word, a situation that lasted almost two years during which the Mail and other media fought for press freedom in locked-door courtrooms. 

After the superinjunction was lifted in July last year, the Mail won six Press industry awards for the story, and the paper’s journalists gave evidence to several inquiries including the Defence Committee’s, which commended journalists for ‘their grit, their determination and their pursuit of the truth’.

Today it emerged that ministers would do the same again. Rejecting a recommendation from the committee to widen the circle of MPs told about it, should there be another superinjunction, the Government said it should be always up to the ‘government of the day’ to decide.

Mr Dhesi, the committee chair, said: ‘After a major data breach and years of unprecedented secrecy, it is also striking that the government has rejected proposals for clear principles on parliamentary scrutiny should such an extraordinary situation ever arise again.’

Campaigners accuse the government’s relocation team of placing ‘undue and extraordinary pressure’ on eligible Afghans to self-move, ignoring the potential risks. One family who the Mail’s award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign has worked with for several years was recently held at the Afghan-Tajik border for several hours with the threat of being sent back to the Taliban. 

Another who worked with UK Special Forces told how they were stopped three times and questioned by officials at road blocks of his way to the border. Others have faced deportation from Tajikistan back to Afghanistan and the arms of the Taliban. 

The 2022 data breach had put 100,000 Afghans ‘at risk of death’ and prompted a clandestine evacuation scheme to rescue interpreters and others loyal to Britain who were abandoned after the Taliban seized back control of Afghanistan in 2021.