Taliban Used Discarded UK Gear to Track Down Afghans Who Worked With Western Forces, Inquiry Learns

An informant has disclosed a parliamentary probe that British authorities left behind confidential devices enabling the militant group to locate Afghans that had served with western forces.

Information Leak Endangers Thousands at Risk

The whistleblower, called Person A, explained that people concerned by the data leak were instructed to change residences and switch their contact details to protect themselves from militant forces.

Members of Parliament are investigating the UK government's handling of a catastrophic breach of confidential data concerning approximately 19k individuals who had requested to move to Britain to avoid the regime.

Data Disclosure Happened

A spreadsheet including confidential details, including identities, addresses and occasionally relative details, was mistakenly released by a staff member employed at UK special forces headquarters in February 2022.

The incident became known in late 2023, when identities of several individuals who had applied to settle in the UK appeared on social media.

Regime's Resources

It appears there is this misconception that Afghan rulers lack similar capabilities that western nations possess,” she told the committee.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire a contact number, they can locate your exact position. This is exactly how specialized teams did.”

During testimony about whether the Taliban owned advanced decryption, the source stated: “They possess all resources.”

Impact of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research provided to the committee suggested that at least 49 relatives and associates of people concerned by the leak had been executed.

A superinjunction regarding the breach was enacted in last year and blocked any information about it from public disclosure until July 2025.

Security Recommendations

Because she was restricted, the source and the volunteer organization associated with told individuals at risk they were working with that they had “apprehensions that certain devices had been compromised”.

“We recommended that they moved where feasible and changed their mobile numbers. Those were the two main details that, if authorities obtained such data, would cause them being traced,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower disputed that internal investigation carried out by a former official had been wrong to state that the acquisition of the dataset by militant forces was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”.

“The important fact is that these Afghans are not confronting militant forces; they remain concealed. The primary issue involves former occupations.”

She detailed horrific abuse endured by at-risk Afghans, including electric shock torture, waterboarding, and physical abuse.

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