The Taliban claims it has had the so-called ‘kill list’ of Afghans who worked with Britain since 2022 and has spent the last three years tracking them down.
The list includes around 25,000 names of interpreters, soldiers and family members who applied for asylum through British evacuation schemes.
It was accidentally leaked online in 2022, triggering one of the most expensive and secretive operations in modern British history – but now critics are asking whether it was all pointless.
Taliban officials now say they downloaded the list within days of its appearance online and have used it to hunt those named ever since.
A senior Taliban source told The Telegraph, ‘We got the list from the internet during the very first days when it was leaked.’
The official confirmed that many people fled Afghanistan or went into hiding, but said surveillance teams had been hired to watch homes of the individuals and their relatives around the clock.
‘A special unit has been launched to find them and make sure they do not work with Britain,’ the official said.
He also said authorities in the Taliban government had visited relatives of people on the list to ‘track them down’ and added that they ‘must be dealt with’.
The Taliban government has claimed it had the full list of the so called ‘kill list’ since 2022
Unmarked charter planes have been seen arriving at UK airports – the British government responded to the leak by launching Operation Rubific, a covert mission to secretly relocate as many people as possible to safety
Another Taliban official revealed to The Telegraph that the search had ramped up in recent months.
He said the list was distributed to border agents, who have been instructed to block anyone listed from leaving the country.
He called the people on the list ‘traitors’ and added that the plan was to find ‘as many of them as possible’. He also asserted that the leaked list worked in their favour.
The British government responded to the leak by launching Operation Rubific, a covert mission to secretly relocate as many people as possible to safety.
Nearly 24,000 Afghans have either already been flown to the UK or will be in the coming months, according to newly released government data.
The scale of the operation and the danger it posed to those left behind led to an unprecedented super-injunction being imposed in early 2023.
It banned all media, Parliament and the public from discussing the leak, the evacuation plans, or even the fact that a super-injunction existed.
Ministers argued that any publicity would further endanger lives by confirming to the Taliban that the leak was real.
The search for people who worked with the British government has ramped up in recent months, says a Taliban official
A plane carrying people evacuated, including Shaffy, David Cameron’s interpreter, arriving at Stanstead Airport from Afghanistan in 2024
But a High Court judge who lifted the gag this week said the injunction may have made the situation worse.
Mr Justice Chamberlain said there was ‘a significant chance that it was in fact endangering’ some of the Afghans being relocated.
He said the effect on those not brought to the UK was ‘likely to be adverse overall.’
The judge warned that the government may have ‘added more value’ to the leak by acting so aggressively to conceal it.
A government source confirmed that £7 billion of taxpayer money was spent on Operation Rubific, which has been described by defence officials as the largest covert peacetime relocation effort in British history.
According to reporting by The Times, much of the operation was coordinated by MI6, the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office, with emergency teams working for more than two years to process applications, issue visas and arrange flights in secret.
Despite these efforts, many Afghans remain trapped.
A former British Army interpreter fled to Iran two years ago after hearing his name was on the list, according to the report. His family has since been targeted by Taliban fighters who repeatedly raid their homes.
Despite the government’s huge efforts, many Afghans still remain trapped as their families fear they will be targeted
People in Kabul waited on an airport tarmac to be evacuated from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over
The family member told The Telegraph that they had arrested him and even beaten him for a day.
He added that being related to someone on the ‘kill list’ is a ‘death sentence’ as the Taliban has threatened they would kill a family member if they can’t find who they are searching for.
Though the UK government has insisted it acted to save lives, critics argue that the Taliban may have already had access to the data and that the secrecy surrounding the operation may have done more harm than good.
Justice Chamberlain concluded in court filings that the decision to suppress public knowledge of the breach may have inadvertently endangered the very people the government claimed it was trying to protect.
If Taliban officials are to be believed, the cover-up did little to stop the targeting.
