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The late emergence of 97 million searchable records has raised concerns about delays to the Afghanistan inquiry. The Ministry of Defence says the additional review work is manageable.
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The Ministry of Defence has apologised for failing to respond promptly to the Afghanistan inquiry over 97 million newly searchable records, whose late emergence has prompted a warning of possible delays. [1] [3]
At a public hearing on 25 September, the ministry’s counsel apologised specifically for its delayed response to correspondence sent by the inquiry on 18 August. He said background work had continued, describing the failure as “one of communication, not of application”. [1]
The inquiry is investigating alleged unlawful activity by UK Special Forces during deliberate detention operations in Afghanistan between mid-2010 and mid-2013. Its remit also covers the ministry’s response to concerns and the adequacy of Royal Military Police investigations. [4]
The MoD says a historic records-management system uploaded to its Digital Archive System in July contained 97 million unique records with file-creation dates between 2010 and 2013. These are records available for searches for potentially relevant evidence. The ministry said its inquiry response unit understood the scale on 5 August; the inquiry was notified the following day. [1] [2] [3]
Inquiry chair Lord Justice Haddon-Cave said the material had not been considered when the ministry answered evidence requests over the preceding three years. In a statement on 22 September, he called its late appearance “troubling and regrettable” and warned that it could delay the inquiry unless rapidly addressed. He sought assurances that the review would not disrupt other work and that steps would prevent further similar revelations. [3]
In a letter dated 24 September, the MoD said rerunning agreed keyword searches for one phase of the investigation had initially produced 16,890 additional files. Allowing for excluded file types, duplicates and separate examination of embedded documents and email attachments, it estimated about 18,000 additional documents would need review.
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The ministry said this targeted workload should be manageable without jeopardising the chair’s timetable. Its illustrative calculation suggested that 10 paralegals could review 20,000 documents for general relevance in two to three weeks, with further assurance checks afterwards. [2]
The MoD also said the Afghanistan material recovered and uploaded did not include UK Special Forces IT systems, which were subject to a separate search programme. It acknowledged, however, that some special forces material might have been captured indirectly. [2]
Edward Craven KC, representing the bereaved Afghan families, told the hearing that they had “serious concern” about the developments that had made the session necessary. [1]
Haddon-Cave intends to hold another hearing in October to question the ministry about its progress, the BBC reported. He said material of real relevance must be identified and disclosed quickly. [6]