🔗 Share this article

A whistleblower has disclosed an official investigation that the UK abandoned classified devices allowing Afghanistan's rulers to track down Afghans who collaborated with allied troops.

Data Breach Puts Thousands at Risk

Person A, called Person A, explained that people concerned by the security lapse were advised to relocate and change their phone numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating official response of a massive breach of personal details involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had asked to move to the UK to escape the regime.

The Information Breach Happened

A data file with confidential details, including names, phone numbers and occasionally relative details, was mistakenly released by a worker stationed at British military command in February 2022.

The leak became known months later, when details of multiple applicants who had sought to relocate to the UK surfaced on social media.

Taliban Capabilities

Many believe there's a misunderstanding that the Taliban are without similar capabilities that we have,” the whistleblower testified to MPs.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Should they obtain your phone number, they can trace your precise location. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.”

Under inquiry about if militant forces had access to sophisticated technology, the source declared: “They possess all resources.”

Consequences of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research submitted to the investigation suggested that approximately fifty kin and co-workers of people concerned by the incident had been executed.

A superinjunction concerning the breach was put in force in last year and restricted all details regarding the matter from media reporting until July 2025.

Protective Actions

Given injunction limitations, the whistleblower and the non-governmental organization she collaborated with advised affected households they were assisting that they had “suspicions that mobile communications had been compromised”.

“Our suggestion was that they change residence if they could and altered their mobile numbers. That constituted the primary information that, if the Taliban acquired such data, would result in their location being found,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower contested that government assessment conducted by a retired civil servant had been wrong to conclude that the acquisition of the information by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change present danger”.

“The thing to remember is that affected people are not standing up to the authorities; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves past work history.”

The source explained disturbing abuse experienced by at-risk Afghans, including electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and severe beatings.

“We have had toddlers who have had bones crushed to force relatives to reveal locations,” the whistleblower revealed.