The UK government has reportedly secured a media gagging order to suppress coverage of the discreet arrival of approximately 24,000 Afghan immigrants being flown into the country. This development has raised significant concerns about transparency and national security. Critics argue that the government's actions represent a troubling pattern of overreach and a disregard for the public's right to be informed. Many are alarmed by the lack of open debate or accountability surrounding the large-scale immigration effort.
The British government reportedly set aside €7 billion to covertly bring tens of thousands of Afghan nationals into the country under a secret operation known as Operation Rubicon. The mission was protected by an extraordinary “super injunction” — a rare legal order that not only barred media from reporting on the operation but made any public mention of it a contempt of court offense, punishable by imprisonment. The Afghans were quietly housed on military bases and in hotels, at significant expense to British taxpayers.
On Tuesday, the government confirmed the existence of the flights, stating they were necessary after a massive data leak exposed the identities of Afghans who had worked alongside Western forces. Officials feared the leak had created a “kill list” for the Taliban, who regained control of Afghanistan following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal under the Biden administration. To protect those at risk, the government decided to evacuate all individuals named in the breach.
The breach came to light when a British soldier, assigned to a special forces base in London and responsible for vetting Afghan applications, leaked a highly sensitive spreadsheet. The document contained the names and personal details of around 100,000 Afghan nationals — including individuals who had worked with Western forces during the war, their families, and other asylum seekers. Despite existing protocols aimed at preventing further leaks after a previous, more minor incident, the soldier reportedly sent the file multiple times via email to contacts in Afghanistan.
The leak went undetected for over a year until an Afghan applicant, whose request to relocate to the UK had been denied, attempted to blackmail the British government by publishing portions of the spreadsheet online. Fearing that the whole dataset had been compromised, the government acted swiftly, evacuating everyone named in the document to the UK, including the individual who attempted the blackmail.
