Sir Vince Cable, who was business secretary at the time, described sharing the briefing as “appalling behaviour”.
Thames Valley Police are already assessing whether to investigate the apparent sharing of documents related to Andrew’s time as trade envoy.
As well as the Afghan document, Andrew also seems to have sent the disgraced financier official reports from his visits as a trade envoy to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam, according to emails in the Epstein files seen by the BBC.
Emails in the files raise the possibility Andrew shared further trade documents with Epstein. One message indicates that a few seconds after sending the reports from the South East Asia visits, the former prince then sent a second batch of files called “Overseas bids”.
These seem to be “Zip files” that usually contain many compressed pieces of information.
The Afghan document, which is in the Epstein files, was compiled by UK government officials specifically for the then Duke of York.
It provides an extensive overview of investment opportunities in Helmand province, at a time when the UK was militarily and politically committed to rebuilding Afghanistan.
As Andrew said in his note to Epstein, it’s a “confidential brief produced by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province”.
It was a briefing produced for Andrew – who was trade envoy between 2001 and 2011 – in the same month that he visited Helmand, where he saw UK troops based there.
It gives an assessment of the current local economy and the business opportunities, including “significant high value mineral deposits” and the “potential for low cost extraction”.
This includes valuable natural resources such as marble, gold, iridium, uranium and thorium and also possible deposits of oil and gas, with the information prepared by UK government officials, working for the Helmand reconstruction team.
According to official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive, commercial, or political information about their official visits.