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A whistleblower has told a parliamentary probe that the UK failed to secure confidential devices allowing the militant group to identify Afghans who collaborated with allied troops.

Information Leak Puts Numerous in Danger

The source, identified as Person A, testified that people concerned by the data leak were instructed to relocate and change their contact details to ensure their safety from the ruling authorities.

MPs are currently examining the UK government's management of a massive breach of personal details involving approximately 19k Afghans who had applied to move to Britain to escape militant rule.

Data Disclosure Happened

A spreadsheet containing confidential details, comprising identities, contact details and in some cases family information, was inadvertently disclosed by a staff member stationed at UK special forces headquarters in last year.

The breach was discovered only in August 2023, when identities of multiple applicants who had sought to settle in Britain were posted on Facebook.

Regime's Resources

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that militant forces do not have comparable resources that we have,” Person A informed lawmakers.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. If they have mobile details, they can locate you down to within metres. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.”

Under inquiry about whether the Taliban owned sophisticated technology, the whistleblower declared: “They possess all resources.”

Impact of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research submitted to the committee suggested that approximately fifty relatives and associates of Afghans affected by the breach had been killed.

A superinjunction regarding the breach was put in force in late 2023 and prevented any information about it from being made public until July 2025.

Security Recommendations

Because she was restricted, the source and the aid group she was working with informed affected households they were supporting that they had “concerns that certain devices had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they moved if they could and altered their phone numbers. Those were the primary information that, should militant forces acquired such data, would cause identification and capture,” Person A explained.

Disputed Conclusions

The source contested that an official review conducted by an ex-government employee had been mistaken to determine that the acquisition of the records by the Taliban was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that these individuals are in hiding from the authorities; they remain concealed. All concerns relate to former occupations.”

The source explained terrible treatment suffered by concerned people, including electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and physical abuse.

“There are cases of four-year-old children who have had limbs fractured to try to get households to say where someone is,” the whistleblower revealed.