A confidential source has told a parliamentary probe that British authorities abandoned confidential technology enabling Afghanistan's rulers to track down local individuals who worked with western forces.
The source, called Person A, testified that individuals impacted by the data leak were instructed to change residences and switch their contact details to avoid detection from the Taliban.
Lawmakers are looking into the Conservative government's handling of a serious leak of confidential data involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had applied to relocate to the UK to escape the Taliban.
An electronic document containing private information, including identities, contact details and occasionally household data, was accidentally leaked by a staff member employed at UK special forces headquarters in early 2022.
The incident came to light only in August 2023, when details of several individuals who had requested to settle in the UK surfaced on social media.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding that the Taliban do not have comparable resources that we have,” Person A informed lawmakers.
“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. Once they acquire your phone number, they are able to track you down to within metres. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.”
During testimony about if militant forces owned advanced decryption, the whistleblower stated: “They possess all resources.”
Preliminary research submitted to the inquiry suggested that approximately fifty relatives and co-workers of individuals impacted by the incident had been murdered.
A legal restriction regarding the leak was enacted in late 2023 and blocked relevant facts regarding the matter from being made public until July 2025.
Given injunction limitations, Person A and the aid group she was working with informed individuals at risk they were supporting that they had “suspicions that somebody's phone had been compromised”.
“Our suggestion was that they change residence if they could and altered their contact details. These represented the crucial data that, if authorities acquired such data, would lead to identification and capture,” the source testified.
Person A disputed that internal investigation carried out by a former official had been mistaken to determine that the obtaining of the records by the Taliban was “minimally impact current risk levels”.
“The crucial point is that these Afghans are not standing up to the authorities; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves their previous employment.”
The source explained disturbing abuse suffered by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, waterboarding, and severe beatings.
“Instances include young kids who have had limbs fractured to try to get the family to disclose hiding places,” the whistleblower revealed.
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