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UK Acknowledges and Winds Down Secret Afghan Resettlement Scheme

Lifting a judicial gag to enable publication of an independent review, the Labour government has begun winding down the secret Afghan Response Route after minimal reprisal risk was found.

Soldados británicos en Kabul, la capital de Afganistán, en 2020. El reconocimiento de la filtración de datos se produce en un momento en el que la inmigración es un tema delicado en la política británica. Crédito... Omar Sobhani/Reuters
La ministra de Economía británica, Rachel Reeves.
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Overview

  • The Afghan Response Route was launched in autumn 2023 after a Ministry of Defence error in 2022 exposed the identities of nearly 19,000 Afghan collaborators.
  • A court order that kept the settlement plan under wraps was lifted on July 15, enabling the government to formally acknowledge the program.
  • The independent review released alongside the order found minimal evidence that the leak increased the risk of Taliban reprisals.
  • The covert scheme has helped relocate some 4,500 at-risk Afghans at a cost of about £850 million, and the Labour government is now winding it down.
  • The use of judicial secrecy for ARR has drawn criticism from press freedom advocates and intensified calls for parliamentary oversight.