🔗 Share this article Taliban Utilized Abandoned UK Equipment to Locate Afghans Who Worked Alongside Allied Troops, Inquiry Is Told A whistleblower has told the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind sensitive devices enabling Afghanistan's rulers to identify local individuals who worked with international military. Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk Person A, identified as Person A, testified that Afghans affected by the data leak were told to move homes and switch their contact details to protect themselves from militant forces. Members of Parliament are investigating official handling of a catastrophic breach of personal details concerning almost nineteen thousand individuals who had applied to relocate to the United Kingdom to flee militant rule. How the Leak Happened An electronic document including confidential details, comprising names, addresses and occasionally relative details, was mistakenly released by a staff member working at special operations center in early 2022. The breach became known in late 2023, when details of nine people who had requested to relocate to Britain surfaced on Facebook. Militant Technology It appears there is this misconception that Afghan rulers lack comparable resources that we have,” the whistleblower testified to the committee. “We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire your phone number, they can locate you down to within metres. This is exactly how intelligence groups did.” During testimony about if militant forces had access to necessary encryption, the source declared: “They have complete capability.” Impact of the Information Leak Early investigations presented to the inquiry indicated that no fewer than forty-nine kin and associates of people concerned by the incident had been executed. A gag order concerning the incident was put in force in last year and blocked all details concerning it from public disclosure until July 2025. Protective Actions Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the volunteer organization associated with informed individuals at risk they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been breached”. “Our suggestion was that they moved if they could and altered their mobile numbers. That constituted the two main details that, should militant forces obtained these details, would lead to their location being found,” Person A explained. Disputed Conclusions The source disputed that an official review conducted by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to conclude that the possession of the information by militant forces was “unlikely to substantially change an individual's existing exposure”. “The crucial point is that these Afghans are not confronting the authorities; they live secretly. The primary issue involves former occupations.” Person A described disturbing treatment endured by concerned people, involving electrocution, interrogation techniques, and severe beatings. “There are cases of four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force the family to disclose hiding places,” she testified.