Taliban Fighters Flown to UK Under Secret Airlift After Major Data Breach

Image: Jihad Watch

Following a catastrophic security breach involving sensitive data of Afghan nationals, it has now emerged that former Taliban fighters have been flown to the United Kingdom under a covert evacuation programme. The revelation, originally reported by The Telegraph, comes in the wake of an earlier exposé by The Mail, which brought to light one of the most alarming intelligence failures in recent British military history.

Earlier this month, The Mail uncovered that a British military official had inadvertently shared a highly confidential database containing the personal details of 100,000 Afghan nationals. These individuals had applied for asylum in the UK through a resettlement scheme designed specifically for those who had worked alongside British forces in Afghanistan. The programme was meant to provide safe passage for interpreters, support staff, and other allies of the UK, who faced deadly retribution from the Taliban following the Western withdrawal.

Instead, the accidental disclosure of this data effectively handed over what has been described as a “kill list” to the Taliban—placing thousands of Afghan lives in immediate jeopardy. The data breach, discovered by The Mail in August 2023, set off a desperate and largely unpublicized operation to rescue those exposed by the leak.

Under the classified airlift operation, codenamed Operation Rubific, approximately 18,500 Afghans have already been flown to Britain or are currently en route aboard aircraft funded by British taxpayers. In total, 23,900 individuals have been approved for resettlement under the scheme. Upon arrival, they are being housed in Ministry of Defence properties or hotels until permanent accommodations can be arranged.

However, due to logistical limitations and the sheer scale of the crisis, tens of thousands of Afghans identified on the list remain trapped in Afghanistan, left to face the wrath of Taliban commanders who consider them traitors.

What has now added to the growing controversy is the revelation that not all of those airlifted were allies of the UK. According to The Telegraph, several former Taliban fighters have managed to enter Britain under the guise of asylum seekers, thanks to the compromised list. Alongside them, individuals with criminal records—including sex offenders, corrupt bureaucrats, and even those imprisoned by NATO-led coalition forces—have also reportedly been admitted.

Some of these individuals had previously had their applications denied due to serious allegations such as violent assaults or sexual crimes, but were nonetheless reconsidered for evacuation simply because their names appeared on the leaked list.

This series of security and bureaucratic failures has sparked outrage, with critics questioning how a programme designed to protect Britain’s allies has ended up sheltering the very people they fought against. The long-term implications for national security and public safety remain deeply troubling.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)