Taliban Employed Discarded British Gear to Track Down Afghans That Served With Allied Troops, Investigation Hears
A confidential source has revealed a parliamentary probe that the UK abandoned sensitive equipment permitting the militant group to locate Afghans that had served with western forces.
Information Leak Endangers Thousands in Danger
The source, called Person A, stated that individuals impacted by the information breach were instructed to change residences and switch their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban.
Lawmakers are currently examining the Conservative government's handling of a serious disclosure of private information concerning approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to come to the United Kingdom to flee the Taliban.
The Information Breach Occurred
An electronic document including their personal data, comprising identities, phone numbers and occasionally household data, was accidentally leaked by a worker employed at UK special forces headquarters in February 2022.
The incident came to light in late 2023, when details of nine people who had sought to move to Britain appeared on online platforms.
Taliban Capabilities
It appears there is a misunderstanding that the Taliban are without similar capabilities that we have,” Person A informed MPs.
“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. Once they acquire mobile details, they are able to track you down to within metres. That's precisely what intelligence groups accomplished.”
Under inquiry about regarding if authorities possessed advanced decryption, the source confirmed: “They've got everything.”
Aftermath of the Security Lapse
Preliminary research submitted to the investigation estimated that approximately fifty kin and colleagues of people concerned by the incident had been killed.
A superinjunction concerning the breach was implemented in last year and prevented any information regarding the matter from public disclosure until mid-2025.
Safety Measures
Due to legal constraints, Person A and the non-governmental organization she was working with informed affected households they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been breached”.
“We recommended that they moved where feasible and altered their contact details. Those were the two main details that, if authorities acquired such data, would cause their location being found,” Person A explained.
Contested Findings
The whistleblower disputed that internal investigation carried out by a former official had been wrong to state that the obtaining of the dataset by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change present danger”.
“The thing to remember is that affected people are in hiding from militant forces; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves their previous employment.”
She detailed horrific violence suffered by affected individuals, involving electrocution, interrogation techniques, and severe beatings.
“There are cases of four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force the family to reveal locations,” the whistleblower revealed.
