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A whistleblower has told the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK failed to secure confidential equipment permitting the militant group to identify Afghans who collaborated with western forces.

Information Leak Endangers Thousands at Risk

Person A, known as Person A, testified that people concerned by the information breach were told to relocate and switch their contact details to avoid detection from the ruling authorities.

Members of Parliament are currently examining official response of a catastrophic leak of personal details involving almost nineteen thousand individuals who had asked to relocate to the UK to avoid militant rule.

Data Disclosure Was Discovered

An electronic document including confidential details, such as names, addresses and in some cases family information, was accidentally leaked by a staff member employed at British military command in February 2022.

The incident became known in late 2023, when details of multiple applicants who had requested to move to the UK surfaced on social media.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban do not have the same sort of facilities that allied forces use,” the whistleblower testified to the committee.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire mobile details, they are able to track your exact position. That's precisely what the unit did.”

When questioned about regarding if authorities had access to advanced decryption, the source confirmed: “They have complete capability.”

Consequences of the Security Lapse

Initial findings presented to the investigation estimated that no fewer than forty-nine relatives and co-workers of people concerned by the leak had been murdered.

A legal restriction concerning the leak was put in force in late 2023 and blocked any information concerning it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Security Recommendations

Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the non-governmental organization she was working with told affected households they were working with that they had “apprehensions that somebody's phone had been compromised”.

“We recommended that they change residence where feasible and switched their mobile numbers. These represented the two main details that, if authorities had access to such data, would cause them being traced,” she said.

Disputed Conclusions

Person A contested that government assessment conducted by an ex-government employee had been wrong to determine that the acquisition of the information by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change an individual's existing exposure”.

“The crucial point is that these Afghans are not confronting militant forces; they are in hiding. Everything boils down to their previous employment.”

She detailed disturbing treatment experienced by at-risk Afghans, comprising electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and violent assaults.

“Instances include toddlers who have had their arms broken to try to get the family to disclose hiding places,” she testified.