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A whistleblower has told an official investigation that British authorities left behind classified devices enabling the Taliban to locate local individuals who worked with international military.

Information Leak Puts Numerous at Risk

Person A, identified as Person A, testified that individuals impacted by the data leak were instructed to move homes and alter their mobile numbers to ensure their safety from the Taliban.

MPs are currently examining the UK government's management of a catastrophic leak of confidential data involving nearly 19,000 Afghans who had asked to come to Britain to flee the Taliban.

Data Disclosure Occurred

A data file with their personal data, such as names, addresses and in some cases family information, was accidentally leaked by a staff member stationed at UK special forces headquarters in last year.

The leak became known only in August 2023, when identities of several individuals who had applied to relocate to Britain surfaced on social media.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that Afghan rulers do not have the same sort of facilities that we have,” the whistleblower testified to MPs.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they have it. If they have a contact number, they can locate you down to within metres. That's precisely what intelligence groups achieved.”

Under inquiry about regarding if authorities possessed sophisticated technology, the whistleblower declared: “They have complete capability.”

Aftermath of the Data Breach

Initial findings submitted to the inquiry indicated that approximately fifty family members and co-workers of individuals impacted by the incident had been executed.

A legal restriction regarding the breach was implemented in August 2023 and prevented any information about it from media reporting until recently.

Protective Actions

Given injunction limitations, Person A and the non-governmental organization she collaborated with advised individuals at risk they were assisting that they had “suspicions that certain devices had been breached”.

“Our suggestion was that they moved where feasible and altered their contact details. That constituted the primary information that, should militant forces acquired such data, would result in their location being found,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

The source contested that government assessment performed by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to state that the acquisition of the dataset by militant forces was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that these Afghans are in hiding from the Taliban; they live secretly. The primary issue involves former occupations.”

Person A described terrible abuse suffered by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and physical abuse.

“We have had four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to pressure the family to reveal locations,” the whistleblower revealed.