Secret UK military papers found at Kent bus stop

KABUL (Pajhwok): Classified documents of the UK Defence Ministry regarding an expected UK military presence in Afghanistan have been found at a bus stop in Kent, the BBC reported on Sunday.

One set of the sensitive defence papers outlined plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after an end to the US-led NATO operation, the report said.

Other documents spell out details about HMS Defender and Russia’s expected reaction to the ship’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast.

Recovered from in a squelchy heap behind a bus stop in Kent, the papers contain almost 50 pages. The government is probing the loss of the documents.

One document, marked “Secret UK Eyes Only”, outlines highly sensitive recommendations for the UK’s military footprint in Afghanistan, after the end of Operation Resolute Support.

Given the sensitivity of the paper, the BBC decided against reporting details that could imperil the security of British and other personnel in Afghanistan.

It warns: “Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists… is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors.

The Ministry of Defence is currently investigating how the documents came to be lying on a street corner in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

PAN Monitor/mud