The British government secretly relocated 18,500 Afghan immigrants to the United Kingdom.

The British government carried out in secret an air operation that cost around £7 billion to transfer 18,500 Afghan immigrants to the United Kingdom, after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, according to the Daily Mail.

This massive mission has only now come to light, following a legal dispute that lasted two years and allowed the order keeping the case under strict confidentiality to be lifted.

According to the government's argument, the main objective of the mission was to safeguard Afghans who had collaborated with the armed forces, diplomats, and British humanitarian organizations, as well as to protect families and individuals at risk of reprisals from the new Taliban regime, following a massive data leak.

The operation required complex logistical coordination, with numerous flights scheduled to ensure the safe transfer of thousands of people fleeing the country in a context of extreme urgency and danger.

Government authorities confirmed that the airlift was funded with public funds for a total amount of £7 billion, a figure that had not been previously disclosed due to the classified nature of the mission.

The British Defence Minister, John Healey, explained that the operation took place after a "serious administrative error" committed by an unidentified official from the Ministry of Defence, who leaked a spreadsheet via email, using channels not authorized by the government, at the beginning of 2022.

This file contained sensitive information about 18,714 Afghan citizens who were attempting to apply to a British government programme designed to assist those who collaborated or worked alongside United Kingdom forces in Afghanistan during the conflict against the Taliban between 2001 and 2021.

It was not until August 2023 that the Ministry of Defence became aware of the leak, after fragments of the database were published on Facebook, according to British media reports.

The leak involved the exposure of identifying information of Afghans who had supported British efforts against terrorism and contributed to regional stability and security.

Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, about 36,000 people of Afghan nationality have been resettled in the United Kingdom through various relocation programmes, according to official figures from the Ministry of Defence.

However, the recent disclosure of the details has reignited the debate about the transparency of the Executive, the enormous economic cost involved, and the arrival of new illegal immigrants in the country.