🔗 Share this article

An informant has disclosed an official investigation that British authorities abandoned sensitive devices allowing the Taliban to locate Afghans who collaborated with western forces.

Information Leak Puts Thousands in Danger

The source, known as Person A, stated that people concerned by the information breach were told to change residences and switch their contact details to protect themselves from the ruling authorities.

Lawmakers are investigating official response of a massive breach of personal details involving approximately 19k individuals who had asked to relocate to Britain to flee the Taliban.

The Information Breach Happened

A spreadsheet containing confidential details, comprising names, contact details and sometimes household data, was inadvertently disclosed by an official working at special operations center in early 2022.

The leak became known months later, when identities of several individuals who had requested to settle in Britain were posted on Facebook.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban do not have comparable resources that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to the committee.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they possess it. If they have your phone number, they can trace your exact position. That's precisely what specialized teams did.”

When questioned about if militant forces possessed sophisticated technology, Person A declared: “They have complete capability.”

Consequences of the Security Lapse

Initial findings presented to the committee indicated that approximately fifty kin and associates of individuals impacted by the leak had been executed.

A gag order concerning the incident was put in force in August 2023 and blocked relevant facts concerning it from public disclosure until July 2025.

Safety Measures

Because she was restricted, Person A and the non-governmental organization she was working with advised affected households they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that certain devices had been breached”.

“We recommended that they change residence if they could and changed their contact details. That constituted the two main details that, if authorities obtained such data, would cause identification and capture,” she said.

Disputed Conclusions

The whistleblower argued that government assessment conducted by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to conclude that the obtaining of the information by the regime was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The crucial point is that these Afghans are not confronting militant forces; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves their previous employment.”

The source explained disturbing treatment suffered by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and severe beatings.

“There are cases of young kids who have had limbs fractured to try to get households to say where someone is,” the whistleblower revealed.