Taliban Used Abandoned UK Equipment to Find Local Nationals Who Worked With Western Troops, Inquiry Learns

A whistleblower has told a parliamentary probe that the UK failed to secure sensitive equipment allowing Afghanistan's rulers to identify Afghans who worked with allied troops.

Data Breach Puts Thousands at Risk

Person A, known as Person A, testified that Afghans affected by the security lapse were advised to relocate and switch their phone numbers to protect themselves from militant forces.

MPs are currently examining official handling of a massive leak of confidential data involving approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to move to the United Kingdom to flee the regime.

The Information Breach Occurred

A data file containing private information, such as names, phone numbers and occasionally family information, was accidentally leaked by an official working at special operations center in early 2022.

The breach came to light only in August 2023, when details of nine people who had applied to relocate to the UK were posted on social media.

Regime's Resources

It appears there is a false assumption that militant forces are without similar capabilities that allied forces use,” Person A informed lawmakers.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Once they acquire your phone number, they can locate you down to within metres. That is what specialized teams accomplished.”

When questioned about whether the Taliban had access to necessary encryption, the source confirmed: “They possess all resources.”

Impact of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research provided to the inquiry estimated that approximately fifty relatives and associates of Afghans affected by the breach had been murdered.

A superinjunction concerning the breach was enacted in last year and prevented all details concerning it from media reporting until mid-2025.

Security Recommendations

Due to legal constraints, the source and the volunteer organization she was working with told affected households they were working with that they had “suspicions that certain devices had been breached”.

“We recommended that they change residence when possible and altered their mobile numbers. Those were the crucial data that, should militant forces obtained these details, would lead to their location being found,” she said.

Contested Findings

The source contested that internal investigation conducted by an ex-government employee had been wrong to determine that the acquisition of the dataset by the regime was “minimally impact an individual's existing exposure”.

“The important fact is that these individuals are not standing up to the authorities; they live secretly. Everything boils down to former occupations.”

The source explained terrible treatment suffered by affected individuals, including electric shock torture, waterboarding, and severe beatings.

“Instances include four-year-old children who have had their arms broken to pressure relatives to reveal locations,” Person A stated.