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A whistleblower has revealed an official investigation that the UK abandoned confidential devices enabling Afghanistan's rulers to identify Afghans that had served with western forces.

Data Breach Endangers Numerous at Risk

Person A, known as Person A, explained that Afghans affected by the information breach were advised to change residences and alter their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban.

MPs are currently examining the Conservative government's management of a massive leak of confidential data involving approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to relocate to the United Kingdom to flee the regime.

The Information Breach Occurred

A spreadsheet including their personal data, comprising identities, addresses and in some cases household data, was inadvertently disclosed by a staff member employed at special operations center in February 2022.

The leak was discovered in late 2023, when identities of nine people who had sought to move to Britain appeared on social media.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban are without the same sort of facilities that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to MPs.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Should they obtain mobile details, they can trace your precise location. That is what intelligence groups did.”

During testimony about if militant forces possessed necessary encryption, Person A stated: “They've got everything.”

Consequences of the Information Leak

Initial findings submitted to the committee estimated that at least 49 family members and co-workers of people concerned by the incident had been executed.

A superinjunction regarding the leak was put in force in August 2023 and blocked relevant facts about it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the aid group she was working with told Afghan families they were assisting that they had “concerns that mobile communications had been breached”.

“Our suggestion was that they moved where feasible and altered their mobile numbers. Those were the two main details that, should militant forces acquired this information, would result in identification and capture,” the source testified.

Disputed Conclusions

Person A contested that an official review carried out by a former official had been wrong to state that the possession of the dataset by the regime was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The crucial point is that affected people are in hiding from the Taliban; they live secretly. All concerns relate to former occupations.”

Person A described disturbing abuse suffered by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and violent assaults.

“We have had four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force relatives to disclose hiding places,” Person A stated.