Compiled by Dayo Ade Olusola | M10News | July 16, 2025
An Afghan man who served the British military for over a decade says he has “completely lost [his] mind” after discovering his personal details were leaked in a major UK data breach, exposing him and his family to Taliban retribution.
Speaking anonymously to Sky News from inside Afghanistan, the former interpreter expressed anguish and regret over his years of service alongside British forces, which he now fears may cost him and his family their lives.
“I have done everything for the British forces… I regret that—why did I put my family in danger because of that? Is this justice?” he said. “We help them, and now we are left behind. From today, I don’t know about my future.”
He learned of the breach after receiving an email informing him that his information was among thousands of identities exposed by a Ministry of Defence (MoD) error in early 2022. The email came as a devastating shock.
“When I saw this one story… I completely lost my mind,” he said. “I’ve got two kids. All my family are… in danger. Right now… I’m just completely lost.”
The data leak, described by experts as one of the most serious in recent British security history, involved the mishandling of a spreadsheet listing around 18,700 Afghan nationals who had applied for UK assistance under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). Many of them had worked closely with British and NATO forces during the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, the UK government lifted a superinjunction that had prevented media outlets from reporting on the leak and the secretive relocation programme that followed.
Defence Secretary John Healey told Parliament that approximately 6,900 Afghans and their families have already been relocated or are in the process of being moved to the UK.
However, Healey also announced that no further asylum offers would be made to Afghans under this scheme, citing a review which concluded that the Taliban were unlikely to target individuals solely based on their names being in the leaked dataset.
But the man who spoke to Sky News strongly disputed this claim, warning that Taliban fighters were actively hunting down those who assisted Western forces.
“My family is finished,” he said. “I request… kindly request from the British government… the King… please evacuate us. Maybe tomorrow we will not be anymore. Please, please help us.”
The Taliban, who reclaimed power in August 2021, have been widely accused of carrying out reprisals against former interpreters and collaborators.
Human rights groups have warned that individuals left behind in Afghanistan face grave danger despite government assurances.
The UK government has faced growing criticism for the delay in notifying affected individuals—some of whom were only informed this month, over three years after the breach occurred. Legal representatives for victims are now preparing lawsuits over the MoD’s handling of the crisis.
Barings Law, representing around 1,000 affected individuals, has accused the government of attempting to conceal the breach and of failing to uphold its duty of care to Afghan allies.
For many, like the man still in hiding with his family, time is running out. “Please,” he pleaded, “don’t let us die for helping you.”
