Afghan Rulers Employed Abandoned UK Gear to Find Afghans Who Worked With Allied Troops, Inquiry Hears

A confidential source has revealed a parliamentary probe that the UK abandoned confidential devices permitting the Taliban to locate local individuals that had served with western forces.

Information Leak Puts Numerous at Risk

The source, known as Person A, testified that individuals impacted by the security lapse were advised to move homes and switch their contact details to protect themselves from the Taliban.

MPs are looking into official handling of a serious disclosure of personal details concerning almost nineteen thousand Afghans who had requested to move to the UK to escape the Taliban.

The Information Breach Occurred

A spreadsheet with their personal data, including identities, addresses and sometimes household data, was inadvertently disclosed by a worker stationed at British military command in early 2022.

The leak was discovered in late 2023, when details of multiple applicants who had sought to settle in Britain appeared on Facebook.

Regime's Resources

It appears there is a misunderstanding that militant forces do not have comparable resources that we have,” she told MPs.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. Should they obtain your phone number, they are able to track you down to within metres. That's precisely what intelligence groups did.”

Under inquiry about if militant forces owned sophisticated technology, Person A confirmed: “They've got everything.”

Impact of the Security Lapse

Early investigations provided to the inquiry indicated that no fewer than forty-nine family members and colleagues of people concerned by the leak had been executed.

A legal restriction about the breach was enacted in August 2023 and blocked all details concerning it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Given injunction limitations, the source and the volunteer organization associated with advised affected households they were supporting that they had “suspicions that somebody's phone had been breached”.

“We recommended that they relocate where feasible and altered their phone numbers. These represented the two main details that, should militant forces had access to these details, would result in them being traced,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

Person A contested that an official review carried out by a retired civil servant had been wrong to determine that the possession of the information by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that these individuals are in hiding from the authorities; they remain concealed. All concerns relate to past work history.”

She detailed terrible treatment endured by concerned people, comprising electrocution, waterboarding, and violent assaults.

“Instances include four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force households to disclose hiding places,” the whistleblower revealed.