Senior UK Defense Official Fired over Info Disclosure of Former Afghan Military Personnel

DID Press: UK Defense Ministry announced that a senior official has been dismissed following the leak of sensitive information concerning former Afghanistani military personnel and British security forces.

This security incident, which occurred in 2022, was revealed last month. According to the Ministry of Defense, David Williams, a senior official responsible at the time, will step down from his position by the end of the year.

The issue began when an anonymous official mistakenly emailed a file containing personal information of Afghanistanis who had sought asylum in the UK after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The file included details about thousands of former Afghanistan collaborators with British forces, as well as over a hundred British soldiers and security personnel.

Telegraph newspaper, citing its sources, reported that this data breach had deadly consequences, with at least 200 former Afghanistan security forces being killed by the Taliban. However, the Taliban has denied these reports, emphasizing that their leader’s “general amnesty” decree is still in effect, and former government employees and military personnel are not being prosecuted.

This data scandal has led to widespread criticism of the weak data security measures in the UK’s defense institutions