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A confidential source has told a parliamentary probe that the UK left behind sensitive equipment enabling the Taliban to identify local individuals that had served with western forces.

Information Leak Puts Thousands at Risk

The source, called Person A, testified that people concerned by the security lapse were told to relocate and switch their contact details to avoid detection from the Taliban.

MPs are looking into the Conservative government's response of a catastrophic breach of private information affecting approximately 19k individuals who had asked to come to the UK to avoid the regime.

Data Disclosure Happened

A data file including private information, including names, contact details and occasionally family information, was mistakenly released by an official working at British military command in early 2022.

The breach came to light in late 2023, when details of nine people who had requested to move to the UK surfaced on online platforms.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban lack similar capabilities that we have,” the whistleblower testified to MPs.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they have it. If they have a contact number, they can trace your exact position. That is what specialized teams accomplished.”

During testimony about regarding if authorities owned necessary encryption, the whistleblower stated: “They possess all resources.”

Aftermath of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research presented to the investigation suggested that approximately fifty relatives and associates of Afghans affected by the incident had been murdered.

A legal restriction regarding the incident was enacted in late 2023 and prevented relevant facts about it from media reporting until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Because she was restricted, the source and the non-governmental organization she was working with told individuals at risk they were working with that they had “suspicions that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they change residence where feasible and switched their phone numbers. These represented the two main details that, if the Taliban acquired this information, would result in identification and capture,” Person A explained.

Contested Findings

The whistleblower contested that an official review conducted by a retired civil servant had been incorrect to conclude that the obtaining of the information by militant forces was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The important fact is that affected people are not confronting the authorities; they are in hiding. Everything boils down to former occupations.”

Person A described terrible abuse experienced by concerned people, comprising electrocution, waterboarding, and physical abuse.

“There are cases of toddlers who have had bones crushed to pressure households to say where someone is,” she testified.