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A whistleblower has disclosed the Afghan leak inquiry that British authorities left behind classified technology enabling the Taliban to identify Afghans that had served with allied troops.

Data Breach Puts Thousands at Risk

Person A, called Person A, testified that people concerned by the information breach were told to change residences and alter their mobile numbers to avoid detection from militant forces.

MPs are currently examining the Conservative government's response of a catastrophic leak of private information concerning approximately 19k individuals who had requested to move to the UK to flee the Taliban.

The Information Breach Occurred

A data file with private information, such as identities, addresses and sometimes household data, was inadvertently disclosed by a worker working at British military command in February 2022.

The breach was discovered only in August 2023, when the names of multiple applicants who had applied to relocate to Britain surfaced on Facebook.

Taliban Capabilities

Many believe there's this misconception that militant forces are without the same sort of facilities that we have,” Person A informed the committee.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they possess it. Should they obtain a contact number, they can trace your precise location. That's precisely what intelligence groups achieved.”

When questioned about if militant forces owned advanced decryption, the whistleblower stated: “They've got everything.”

Aftermath of the Information Leak

Preliminary research submitted to the investigation estimated that no fewer than forty-nine family members and co-workers of Afghans affected by the incident had been killed.

A gag order regarding the incident was implemented in last year and prevented any information about it from public disclosure until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the aid group she collaborated with advised individuals at risk they were supporting that they had “apprehensions that somebody's phone had been breached”.

“We recommended that they relocate where feasible and altered their contact details. That constituted the primary information that, if authorities acquired this information, would result in them being traced,” Person A explained.

Challenged Assessments

The whistleblower argued that an official review carried out by a retired civil servant had been incorrect to determine that the acquisition of the dataset by the regime was “unlikely to substantially change present danger”.

“The crucial point is that affected people are not confronting the authorities; they remain concealed. All concerns relate to their previous employment.”

Person A described disturbing abuse suffered by affected individuals, involving electrocution, simulated drowning, and severe beatings.

“Instances include toddlers who have had bones crushed to pressure relatives to say where someone is,” the whistleblower revealed.