Taliban Employed Left-Behind UK Gear to Find Afghans Who Worked Alongside Allied Forces, Inquiry Hears

A confidential source has told a parliamentary probe that British authorities failed to secure confidential technology permitting the Taliban to track down Afghans that had served with allied troops.

Information Leak Endangers Thousands in Danger

Person A, called Person A, testified that people concerned by the information breach were told to move homes and alter their phone numbers to avoid detection from the ruling authorities.

MPs are currently examining the UK government's management of a catastrophic breach of private information involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had applied to come to the UK to avoid the regime.

How the Leak Occurred

An electronic document including private information, such as identities, phone numbers and sometimes household data, was inadvertently disclosed by a staff member employed at UK special forces headquarters in early 2022.

The breach was discovered months later, when identities of multiple applicants who had requested to settle in Britain appeared on social media.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that Afghan rulers lack comparable resources that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to MPs.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they possess it. If they have a contact number, they are able to track your exact position. That's precisely what specialized teams achieved.”

When questioned about regarding if authorities had access to sophisticated technology, the whistleblower declared: “They've got everything.”

Aftermath of the Security Lapse

Initial findings presented to the inquiry indicated that at least 49 relatives and associates of individuals impacted by the incident had been murdered.

A superinjunction regarding the incident was enacted in August 2023 and blocked any information about it from public disclosure until July 2025.

Protective Actions

Due to legal constraints, the source and the non-governmental organization associated with told affected households they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they moved where feasible and altered their mobile numbers. Those were the two main details that, if authorities had access to this information, would lead to their location being found,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower contested that an official review conducted by an ex-government employee had been wrong to determine that the possession of the information by the Taliban was “not significantly alter an individual's existing exposure”.

“The crucial point is that these individuals are not confronting the Taliban; they remain concealed. Everything boils down to their previous employment.”

Person A described disturbing violence endured by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and violent assaults.

“Instances include young kids who have had bones crushed to try to get households to say where someone is,” Person A stated.