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A confidential source has told a parliamentary probe that the UK left behind confidential devices allowing Afghanistan's rulers to identify Afghans who collaborated with western forces.

Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk

The source, known as Person A, testified that Afghans affected by the data leak were told to move homes and alter their contact details to avoid detection from the ruling authorities.

MPs are looking into the UK government's handling of a catastrophic breach of private information involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had requested to move to Britain to avoid militant rule.

How the Leak Was Discovered

An electronic document including their personal data, comprising identities, phone numbers and in some cases family information, was accidentally leaked by a worker employed at special operations center in last year.

The breach was discovered only in August 2023, when details of multiple applicants who had applied to relocate to Britain appeared on social media.

Regime's Resources

“There seems to be a false assumption that the Taliban are without the same sort of facilities that allied forces use,” Person A informed the committee.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Should they obtain mobile details, they can trace your exact position. This is exactly how the unit accomplished.”

Under inquiry about if militant forces owned sophisticated technology, the whistleblower confirmed: “They've got everything.”

Impact of the Data Breach

Preliminary research submitted to the inquiry suggested that approximately fifty relatives and associates of people concerned by the breach had been executed.

A legal restriction concerning the incident was enacted in last year and blocked all details about it from being made public until July 2025.

Safety Measures

Because she was restricted, the source and the aid group she collaborated with told Afghan families they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been breached”.

“Our suggestion was that they change residence where feasible and changed their mobile numbers. That constituted the crucial data that, if authorities acquired these details, would result in them being traced,” she said.

Disputed Conclusions

Person A disputed that government assessment performed by a former official had been wrong to determine that the obtaining of the dataset by militant forces was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The crucial point is that these Afghans are not confronting the Taliban; they are in hiding. All concerns relate to their previous employment.”

The source explained terrible treatment suffered by concerned people, involving electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and violent assaults.

“We have had toddlers who have had their arms broken to pressure the family to say where someone is,” Person A stated.