The government is unable to calculate the total cost of a secret transfer scheme Set after Afghan data leaks, Britain’s public spending guard has said.
In Ministry of Defence ,Ministry of Defence) The amount spent on accounts, scheme was not recorded separately for other rehabilitation activity after the collapse of Kabul. Taliban In 2021, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
A terrible modes Data violationWhich was discovered in August 2023, Details of some 18,700 applicants for UK’s Afghan rehabilitation plans, With thousands of family members.
In response to data breech discovery, mod applied one Unpreceden Started emptying thousands on UK press Afghan Influenced by leakage.
The government used the already established route to Britain, under which was installed Afghan Transfer and Assistance Program (Arap), as “cover” for the evacuation of people affected by violations.
The ARAP scheme was established for Afghans in 2021, who supported and worked with the British forces, and some Afghans placed their eligibility for the plan in light of data violation.
Others who did not qualify under Arap because they did not have enough strong connections to the UK, but who were also influenced by the breech were brought to Britain under a new Afghanistan response route (ARR).
This part of the cladstine operation was estimated by the modes of £ 850 meters.
In a report published on Wednesday, NAO said that the government has failed to provide sufficient evidence to “trust” the watchdog in the accuracy of this figure.
The report states that, by July 2025, 23,463 people affected by data violation have already been brought to the UK or will be evacuated.
Sir Geoffri Clift-Brown MP said: “After the High Court’s Superinjankan was removed earlier this year, confusion still reported £ 850M historical and future costs, which is unable to provide adequate assurances on their number. The figure is not included.
The Watchdog said: “MOD is not able to determine what it has spent on resuming people through the ARR scheme.
“This is because it did not identify the costs of the ARR scheme in its accounting system separately, meaning that these costs were not visible in its management accounts, but they were included within its total expenditure on Afghan rehabilitation activities.”
MOD stated that it survived the separation of costs to follow an unprecedented superannable, which was provided after leaks, causing the Taliban to be targeted, which could target refugees for refugees.
Although it is not well known how much it has spent on the plan, it is estimated that it has spent about £ 400m on transferring people through ARR yet, and will spend another £ 450m.
The government was designed to vacate more than 42,000 people affected by data leaks when its most generous before the superinity was removed.
In October 2024, senior ministers approved a plan to create a secret Afghan rehabilitation program (ARP), which aims to vacate around 36,000 people, of which 28,500 data were affected by the leaks.
The total costs of this new scheme were estimated by £ 6.27bn and £ 7.23BN by the modes. These costs were then repeated by senior government officials in the court.
Following the decision to raise the superinjunction, MOD decided to reduce the scope of the rehabilitation plan. He stated in July that the total cost of all Afghan rehabilitation plans under ARP would be £ 5.5-6BN only when the cost of the ARR scheme is over, and that under ARP.
According to the NAO report published on Wednesday, MOD told Watchdog that the total cost of all Afghan rehabilitation activity between 2021 and 2029 is estimated to be £ 2.074BN.
Referring to the ARR costs, the Watchdog stated that the mod “did not provide enough evidence to give NAO confidence about the perfection and accuracy of his estimates”.
The cost of the entire government is expected to be around 128,000 pounds per £ 128,000, of which the estimated £ 53,000 will be completed by MOD.
A MOD spokesperson said: “We are committed to respect the moral obligation for those Afghans who stood with us and put their lives at risk.
“Since deciding to support the lifting of super prohibition brought by the previous government, we have been evident on the costs associated with transferring eligible Afghans in the UK – and are committed to completely transparency.
“The cost of all Afghan rehabilitation plans, including the Afghan response route, is fully funded as part of the government’s expenditure review.”