How were identities of thousands of Afghan refugees leaked by UK military?
Al Jazeera1 day
Reports: Information on UK Spies, Special Forces Included in Afghan Data Leak
Above: The headquarters of the MI6, on the River Thames in London, U.K., on July 3, 2025. Image copyright: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Spin
Government-critical narrative
The Afghan data leak is a disaster that continues to unfold. The integrity of the U.K.'s intelligence services has been jeopardized due to the incompetence of the Conservative government, and the Labour government must live up to the task by being as transparent as possible. The fact that this was kept secret for so long is a searing indictment of freedom and openness in the U.K., with the use of a super-injunction being a draconian means of covering up this mess.
Pro-government narrative
The super-injunction was necessary for precisely this reason — to protect the lives and identities of those at risk. While the media called for the heads of all involved, the secrecy was needed until the government could ascertain the risk posed, which proved to be minimal. This was no mere cover-up, and the focus now needs to be on shoring up the integrity of British security services.
Narrative C
Without the consent or knowledge of the voting public, tens of thousands of migrants were ferried into the nation at great U.K. taxpayer expense, who were never included in immigration statistics. As the people fight for the nation to get a grip on migration, this blunder has now dropped thousands of unvetted and sometimes criminal migrants into the country, an unacceptable breach of the nation's trust.