Family who escaped Taliban waiting to be taken to safety in the UK nine months later

Rayan and his family have spent the past 271 days staring at the same four walls of their cramped and sparse hotel room in Pakistan.

- By HOLLY BANCROFT

They were found to be eligible for sanctuary in the UK nine months ago due to Rayan’s father’s former service alongside UK special forces - but they are still waiting, in fear for their long-term safety, to be brought to the UK.

On Tuesday, along with thousands of others, he received an email from the Ministry of Defence warning him that, due to a data loss in 2022, “some of the personal data associated with this email address may have been compromised”.

As he typed the family’s application reference number into the government’s checking system, a bright red warning sign flashed up alerting him that they were affected by the huge Afghan data leak, which has led to the names and contact information of 18,700 people with links to British forces being shared “in error”.

The catastrophic breach of Afghan applications to the MoD’s resettlement scheme was inadvertently shared by a member of the armed forces, potentially putting 100,000 people at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.

Learning that the leak could have put his family at risk was “an awful experience”, he told The Independent. The Taliban has already burnt down their family home and arrested some family members because of his father’s previous role.

Now he is desperate for an answer to one urgent question: when will they be brought to safety? The need to leave Pakistan is pressing. Three months ago the family were arrested by Pakistani police and taken to a deportation centre, sparking fears they would be returned to the hands of the Taliban, he said.