The Ministry of Defence has apologised after 97 million files were discovered more than three years into the independent inquiry examining allegations of unlawful killings by UK Special Forces in Afghanistan, with thousands of documents potentially relevant to its investigation.

Exclusive: Freedom of Information disclosures reveal just nine MoD fraud referrals to civilian prosecutors over five years, amid warnings of potential fraud exposure of up to £1.5bn.

The UK Ministry of Defence says it holds information on correspondence with the European Defence Agency over Afghanistan, while the EU agency insists that no such records exist in its holdings.

Newly published evidence presented to the Afghanistan Inquiry contains allegations from multiple witnesses of prisoner abuse, intimidation and a culture of exceptionalism within UK Special Forces, although the Inquiry has yet to reach any findings.

The MoD’s 2022 leak of data on about 18,700 Afghans who assisted UK forces exposed grave failures in data security, secrecy, and accountability, causing severe human harm, political fallout, financial irregularities, and lasting damage to Britain’s credibility. This report details just how this came about.

Britain’s post-service support for 1.85 million veterans has expanded on paper but remains fragmented and underpowered in practice, leaving predictable points of failure in discharge, mental health access, compensation and housing that fall hardest on the young and the vulnerable.

Britain’s armed forces spent £110 million flying to 170 countries in 2023, a globe-spanning itinerary that reached coup-hit and rights-abusing states while generating a significant and largely unaccounted carbon burden.

Britain made 49 official defence visits to Israel during the Gaza war, far more than previously disclosed, highlighting unusually intensive military engagement with a state facing allegations of genocide and prompting warnings that the UK risks complicity in wartime atrocities.

A series of reports by Action on Armed Violence reveals that Britain’s military justice system is mired in secrecy, impunity, and institutional evasion, with elite units shielded from scrutiny, whistleblowers silenced, and the Ministry of Defence systematically resisting accountability.

This report exposes a systemic crisis of accountability within the UK Ministry of Defence, marked by secrecy, impunity, and political inertia, and calls for urgent reforms—including parliamentary oversight, whistleblower protections, and independent scrutiny—to restore public trust and uphold the rule of law.

For nearly two years, a super-injunction obtained by the Ministry of Defence concealed a catastrophic data breach affecting thousands of Afghans, gagging the press and Parliament alike, in a chilling demonstration of how national security can be used to suppress democratic accountability and public scrutiny.

AOAV offers up a forceful rebuttal of Brigadier Aldwin Wight’s claim that British soldiers should be shielded from legal accountability, arguing that true national strength lies in upholding justice, not excusing impunity.