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A confidential source has told the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind confidential equipment allowing Afghanistan's rulers to locate Afghans who worked with allied troops.

Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk

The whistleblower, identified as Person A, stated that individuals impacted by the information breach were advised to relocate and alter their phone numbers to ensure their safety from the Taliban.

Members of Parliament are investigating the UK government's response of a massive breach of confidential data concerning almost nineteen thousand individuals who had requested to move to the UK to escape the regime.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

A spreadsheet containing private information, comprising names, addresses and occasionally relative details, was mistakenly released by an official employed at special operations center in February 2022.

The leak was discovered months later, when the names of nine people who had sought to settle in Britain surfaced on social media.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban lack similar capabilities that western nations possess,” she told the committee.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. Should they obtain mobile details, they can trace your precise location. That is what intelligence groups did.”

During testimony about if militant forces had access to advanced decryption, the whistleblower stated: “They've got everything.”

Impact of the Information Leak

Preliminary research presented to the investigation estimated that approximately fifty relatives and associates of people concerned by the incident had been killed.

A legal restriction regarding the breach was put in force in late 2023 and prevented any information regarding the matter from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Because she was restricted, Person A and the volunteer organization she was working with informed individuals at risk they were assisting that they had “concerns that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We advised that they relocate when possible and switched their phone numbers. These represented the crucial data that, if the Taliban obtained such data, would result in identification and capture,” the source testified.

Contested Findings

Person A disputed that internal investigation carried out by a retired civil servant had been wrong to state that the obtaining of the information by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change an individual's existing exposure”.

“The thing to remember is that these individuals are not confronting the Taliban; they live secretly. Everything boils down to former occupations.”

She detailed disturbing abuse experienced by concerned people, comprising electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and violent assaults.

“Instances include four-year-old children who have had limbs fractured to force relatives to say where someone is,” she testified.