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A whistleblower has told an official investigation that the UK failed to secure confidential technology enabling the militant group to identify Afghans who collaborated with allied troops.

Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk

The whistleblower, known as Person A, explained that people concerned by the data leak were advised to change residences and switch their phone numbers to avoid detection from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating the Conservative government's handling of a massive leak of private information involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had requested to move to Britain to escape militant rule.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

A data file with their personal data, including names, contact details and in some cases relative details, was mistakenly released by a worker working at special operations center in last year.

The leak came to light in late 2023, when identities of nine people who had sought to settle in the UK appeared on Facebook.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that militant forces do not have similar capabilities that we have,” the whistleblower testified to lawmakers.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Should they obtain your phone number, they can locate you down to within metres. This is exactly how the unit did.”

During testimony about whether the Taliban owned necessary encryption, Person A declared: “They have complete capability.”

Consequences of the Information Leak

Initial findings submitted to the inquiry indicated that at least 49 family members and associates of people concerned by the leak had been killed.

A legal restriction concerning the leak was put in force in August 2023 and blocked any information about it from being made public until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Due to legal constraints, Person A and the volunteer organization associated with informed Afghan families they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We advised that they relocate if they could and switched their phone numbers. That constituted the primary information that, if the Taliban had access to this information, would result in them being traced,” Person A explained.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower contested that government assessment carried out by a former official had been mistaken to conclude that the acquisition of the records by the Taliban was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that these Afghans are not confronting militant forces; they are in hiding. Everything boils down to past work history.”

The source explained disturbing abuse experienced 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 pressure the family to disclose hiding places,” Person A stated.