🔗 Share this article

A whistleblower has disclosed a parliamentary probe that the UK failed to secure classified devices enabling the militant group to identify Afghans who collaborated with western forces.

Information Leak Endangers Thousands at Risk

Person A, called Person A, explained that people concerned by the data leak were advised to change residences and change their contact details to protect themselves from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating the Conservative government's handling of a serious breach of personal details affecting approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to move to the United Kingdom to escape the Taliban.

Data Disclosure Was Discovered

An electronic document including confidential details, including names, phone numbers and occasionally family information, was accidentally leaked by a staff member stationed at British military command in early 2022.

The leak became known months later, when details of several individuals who had requested to move to Britain surfaced on online platforms.

Taliban Capabilities

It appears there is this misconception that Afghan rulers lack the same sort of facilities that western nations possess,” the whistleblower testified to the committee.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire mobile details, they can locate your exact position. That's precisely what intelligence groups accomplished.”

Under inquiry about regarding if authorities had access to necessary encryption, Person A declared: “They've got everything.”

Impact of the Security Lapse

Initial findings submitted to the committee suggested that at least 49 family members and co-workers of Afghans affected by the breach had been executed.

A legal restriction regarding the breach was put in force in late 2023 and restricted all details about it from media reporting until mid-2025.

Safety Measures

Due to legal constraints, Person A and the aid group she collaborated with advised individuals at risk they were working with that they had “suspicions that mobile communications had been breached”.

“Our suggestion was that they relocate if they could and altered their phone numbers. That constituted the two main details that, if the Taliban obtained these details, would lead to their location being found,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower contested that an official review carried out by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to determine that the possession of the information by militant forces was “not significantly alter an individual's existing exposure”.

“The crucial point is that affected people are not standing up to militant forces; they live secretly. The primary issue involves former occupations.”

She detailed horrific abuse suffered by at-risk Afghans, involving electrocution, interrogation techniques, and violent assaults.

“There are cases of four-year-old children who have had limbs fractured to pressure households to disclose hiding places,” Person A stated.