Afghan Rulers Employed Discarded British Technology to Track Down Afghans Who Worked With Allied Troops, Inquiry Hears
An informant has told an official investigation that the UK left behind classified devices enabling the Taliban to locate local individuals that had served with western forces.
Information Leak Puts Numerous at Risk
Person A, known as Person A, stated that Afghans affected by the data leak were told to relocate and change their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban.
MPs are looking into the UK government's handling of a serious breach of confidential data affecting almost nineteen thousand individuals who had applied to move to the UK to escape the regime.
The Information Breach Was Discovered
An electronic document containing their personal data, including identities, contact details and in some cases relative details, was inadvertently disclosed by a staff member employed at British military command in early 2022.
The incident came to light only in August 2023, when identities of multiple applicants who had sought to move to Britain surfaced on online platforms.
Taliban Capabilities
It appears there is a false assumption that the Taliban do not have similar capabilities that we have,” the whistleblower testified to the committee.
“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. If they have mobile details, they are able to track you down to within metres. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.”
Under inquiry about if militant forces owned advanced decryption, the source confirmed: “They've got everything.”
Aftermath of the Security Lapse
Preliminary research presented to the investigation estimated that at least 49 kin and associates of people concerned by the breach had been killed.
A superinjunction concerning the breach was implemented in last year and prevented all details regarding the matter from being made public until July 2025.
Safety Measures
Given injunction limitations, the whistleblower and the aid group she collaborated with informed Afghan families they were supporting that they had “concerns that certain devices had been compromised”.
“We recommended that they change residence if they could and switched their phone numbers. That constituted the crucial data that, if the Taliban obtained these details, would lead to their location being found,” Person A explained.
Contested Findings
Person A argued that internal investigation conducted by a former official had been mistaken to determine that the acquisition of the dataset by the regime was “not significantly alter present danger”.
“The crucial point is that these Afghans are not standing up to the Taliban; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves past work history.”
Person A described terrible abuse endured by at-risk Afghans, involving electrocution, interrogation techniques, and severe beatings.
“Instances include toddlers who have had limbs fractured to pressure the family to say where someone is,” she testified.
