Taliban Employed Discarded British Technology to Find Afghans Who Worked Alongside Allied Troops, Inquiry Is Told
A whistleblower has told the Afghan leak inquiry that British authorities left behind confidential technology permitting the Taliban to track down local individuals who worked with allied troops.
Data Breach Puts Numerous in Danger
Person A, identified as Person A, explained that Afghans affected by the data leak were told to change residences and change their contact details to avoid detection from the ruling authorities.
MPs are looking into the Conservative government's response of a catastrophic disclosure of private information concerning approximately 19k individuals who had applied to relocate to the UK to escape the Taliban.
How the Leak Was Discovered
A spreadsheet with their personal data, comprising names, contact details and occasionally relative details, was accidentally leaked by a staff member employed at British military command in last year.
The leak was discovered only in August 2023, when the names of several individuals who had requested to settle in Britain appeared on Facebook.
Regime's Resources
Many believe there's this misconception that the Taliban lack similar capabilities that we have,” she told the committee.
Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire a contact number, they are able to track your precise location. That is what specialized teams did.”
When questioned about whether the Taliban possessed advanced decryption, the whistleblower declared: “They possess all resources.”
Aftermath of the Security Lapse
Preliminary research submitted to the inquiry indicated that at least 49 kin and co-workers of Afghans affected by the breach had been executed.
A legal restriction regarding the breach was put in force in last year and restricted all details about it from media reporting until mid-2025.
Security Recommendations
Because she was restricted, the source and the aid group she collaborated with told individuals at risk they were working with that they had “concerns that certain devices had been compromised”.
“We recommended that they change residence when possible and switched their contact details. That constituted the primary information that, if authorities acquired this information, would cause their location being found,” the source testified.
Contested Findings
The whistleblower contested that government assessment performed by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to conclude that the obtaining of the dataset by militant forces was “not significantly alter an individual's existing exposure”.
“The thing to remember is that these Afghans are not confronting the Taliban; they live secretly. Everything boils down to past work history.”
The source explained terrible violence suffered by affected individuals, comprising electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and violent assaults.
“There are cases of young kids who have had limbs fractured to try to get the family to say where someone is,” Person A stated.
