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A whistleblower has told the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind sensitive technology allowing Afghanistan's rulers to identify Afghans who worked with international military.

Data Breach Endangers Numerous in Danger

Person A, identified as Person A, stated that people concerned by the data leak were advised to relocate and change their contact details to avoid detection from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating the UK government's management of a massive disclosure of personal details affecting approximately 19k Afghans who had asked to relocate to the United Kingdom to flee militant rule.

How the Leak Occurred

An electronic document including private information, such as names, phone numbers and in some cases family information, was mistakenly released by a staff member employed at special operations center in early 2022.

The leak came to light months later, when the names of nine people who had sought to settle in the UK were posted on Facebook.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be a false assumption that the Taliban do not have similar capabilities that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to lawmakers.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they have it. Should they obtain your phone number, they can locate you down to within metres. That's precisely what specialized teams accomplished.”

When questioned about if militant forces had access to necessary encryption, Person A stated: “They have complete capability.”

Aftermath of the Security Lapse

Early investigations provided to the investigation estimated that no fewer than forty-nine relatives and co-workers of Afghans affected by the incident had been murdered.

A gag order regarding the leak was put in force in late 2023 and blocked all details about it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Safety Measures

Because she was restricted, Person A and the aid group she collaborated with told affected households they were assisting that they had “suspicions that somebody's phone had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they relocate if they could and changed their phone numbers. That constituted the two main details that, if the Taliban acquired these details, would cause them being traced,” Person A explained.

Challenged Assessments

Person A contested that internal investigation carried out by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to determine that the obtaining of the dataset by the Taliban was “minimally impact an individual's existing exposure”.

“The thing to remember is that affected people are in hiding from militant forces; they are in hiding. Everything boils down to former occupations.”

Person A described terrible violence endured by affected individuals, involving electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and severe beatings.

“There are cases of young kids who have had limbs fractured to pressure the family to say where someone is,” Person A stated.