The whereabouts of thousands Afghan migrants who came to the UK to escape the Taliban are 'unknown'. 

Officials have 'lost' track of nearly 7,000 people who have fled the war-torn country over the past five years because they are said to have arranged their own accommodation on arrival or left migrant hotels without providing new addresses. 

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed how the details of 6,929 migrants who have arrived in the UK since 2021, when Nato withdrew from Afghanistan, have been lost. 

The watchdog said: 'The location of 6,929 people (18 per cent of those who have arrived in the UK by 31 December 2025) is unknown. 

'This includes people who arranged their own accommodation immediately on arrival or who left hotels without providing a forwarding address.' 

However the Ministry of Defence has suggested the report was worded 'clumsily', adding that the Government has no need to monitor migrants' location once they have been released. 

The report, published on Wednesday, also detailed that the Government expects to bill taxpayers to the tune of £5.7billion for the Afghan resettlement schemes - only £3.1billion of which has been spent since April 2021. 

According to the NAO, £2.6billion 'has yet to be incurred' from the costs of the schemes, which were set up to help Afghan nationals and their families who worked alongside the British Armed Forces during the 20-year war. 

This includes soldiers, police officers and interpreters who feared 'reprisals' from the Taliban. 

Between April 2021 and December 2025, 37,950 people arrived from Afghanistan under the schemes, with the Government estimating a further 9,000 will be resettled by 2033 - when relocations are expected to end. 

People on the schemes are able to receive support from local authorities 'to learn English, access benefits and public services, and adapt to life in the UK'. 

This support lasts for three years after they arrive in the UK.

The NAO said: 'The Government anticipates that its work to resettle and integrate people will continue until 2032-33, costing a total of £5.7billion. 

'It spent £3.1 billion on the schemes between April 2021 and December 2025, meaning a significant proportion of the costs have not yet been incurred.' 

Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office said: 'Government departments have worked together in challenging conditions to resettle thousands of Afghan citizens who were at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.

'Although progress has been made under the new Afghan Resettlement Programme, the Government has more to do to successfully resettle the affected people in the UK.'

The Telegraph reports that a press officer for the Ministry of Defence suggested the NAO had worded its report 'clumsily' in reference to the 6,929 Afghans whose current whereabouts are unknown. 

A Government spokesperson told the newspaper: 'The report clearly sets out the scale and complexity of Afghan resettlement, and recognises the progress that has been made, with around 38,000 Afghans already settled in the UK, and we remain committed to our target of completing Afghan resettlement by the end of this parliament.

'The ARP, introduced by this government, brings all schemes into a single pathway to deliver better outcomes for eligible Afghans and stronger value for money, with work continuing across government to ensure the programme is delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible.

'We have also recently introduced new key performance indicators to improve case handling times and provide greater transparency for applicants and their supporters – alongside an online ARP eligibility self-checker.' 

The Daily Mail has approached the Home Office for comment. 

It comes after 100,000 Afghans were put 'at risk of death' in August 2023 when a British soldier pressed 'send' on an email containing access to a confidential database.  

Amid great secrecy and alarm within the Government, Operation Rubific was launched. 

It was one of the biggest peacetime evacuations in modern UK history: rescuing Afghans whose names were on a database that contained some 33,000 records of people the Taliban warlords now running Afghanistan might wish to kill or torture for their 'treachery' in supporting the UK during its 20 years of operations there.

The projected cost of the evacuation was £7billion.

In July last year, after 23 months of being gagged, the Daily Mail revealed the eye-watering scheme to bring in thousands of Afghans to the UK.

This publication also told how several Afghans on list had previously been rejected for violent or sexual assaults.

Instead of coming clean about all this, the Ministry of Defence mounted a cover-up and successfully hushed up the Daily Mail's exclusive data-breach story when we discovered it in August 2023.