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An informant has revealed an official investigation that the UK abandoned classified equipment permitting the Taliban to track down Afghans who collaborated with international military.

Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk

The whistleblower, identified as Person A, explained that Afghans affected by the security lapse were instructed to change residences and change their phone numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating the UK government's management of a serious breach of private information involving nearly 19,000 Afghans who had requested to relocate to Britain to flee militant rule.

Data Disclosure Occurred

A spreadsheet containing their personal data, comprising identities, addresses and occasionally household data, was mistakenly released by a staff member stationed at special operations center in February 2022.

The breach became known only in August 2023, when the names of several individuals who had sought to relocate to the UK were posted on social media.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that Afghan rulers are without comparable resources that allied forces use,” she told MPs.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they possess it. If they have your phone number, they are able to track you down to within metres. This is exactly how intelligence groups did.”

Under inquiry about if militant forces owned necessary encryption, the source declared: “They possess all resources.”

Consequences of the Information Leak

Early investigations submitted to the inquiry estimated that approximately fifty relatives and colleagues of Afghans affected by the incident had been murdered.

A superinjunction about the leak was put in force in late 2023 and blocked any information regarding the matter from media reporting until July 2025.

Security Recommendations

Because she was restricted, Person A and the volunteer organization she was working with told Afghan families they were working with that they had “apprehensions that somebody's phone had been breached”.

“We recommended that they moved if they could and altered their contact details. That constituted the crucial data that, should militant forces obtained this information, would cause their location being found,” she said.

Disputed Conclusions

Person A contested that an official review performed by a retired civil servant had been incorrect to state that the possession of the records by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change present danger”.

“The crucial point is that affected people are in hiding from the authorities; they live secretly. Everything boils down to former occupations.”

She detailed disturbing abuse experienced by concerned people, comprising electric shock torture, waterboarding, and violent assaults.

“Instances include four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force the family to disclose hiding places,” Person A stated.