🔗 Share this article

An informant has revealed the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind classified technology allowing Afghanistan's rulers to locate local individuals who worked with international military.

Data Breach Puts Thousands at Risk

Person A, known as Person A, stated that individuals impacted by the information breach were told to move homes and alter their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the ruling authorities.

MPs are currently examining the Conservative government's management of a serious disclosure of confidential data involving almost nineteen thousand Afghans who had applied to relocate to Britain to flee the Taliban.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

An electronic document including their personal data, including names, contact details and occasionally household data, was accidentally leaked by a staff member working at UK special forces headquarters in February 2022.

The breach came to light months later, when identities of several individuals who had requested to move to the UK surfaced on social media.

Regime's Resources

“There seems to be a false assumption that the Taliban do not have comparable resources that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to lawmakers.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. Should they obtain a contact number, they can trace your exact position. That is what the unit accomplished.”

When questioned about if militant forces owned necessary encryption, the source confirmed: “They've got everything.”

Aftermath of the Information Leak

Early investigations provided to the inquiry suggested that at least 49 relatives and associates of people concerned by the breach had been killed.

A legal restriction concerning the breach was implemented in August 2023 and restricted relevant facts about it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Safety Measures

Given injunction limitations, the whistleblower and the non-governmental organization she was working with informed individuals at risk they were supporting that they had “suspicions that somebody's phone had been breached”.

“We advised that they change residence where feasible and changed their mobile numbers. These represented the crucial data that, if the Taliban had access to such data, would result in their location being found,” the source testified.

Disputed Conclusions

Person A contested that internal investigation conducted by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to state that the acquisition of the dataset by the Taliban was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that these Afghans are in hiding from the authorities; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves their previous employment.”

The source explained terrible abuse suffered by at-risk Afghans, comprising electrocution, simulated drowning, and violent assaults.

“There are cases of toddlers who have had their arms broken to try to get relatives to reveal locations,” Person A stated.