đ Share this article Taliban Employed Abandoned UK Gear to Locate Afghans Who Worked Alongside Allied Troops, Inquiry Is Told A whistleblower has told a parliamentary probe that British authorities abandoned confidential technology allowing the militant group to identify Afghans that had served with international military. Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk Person A, known as Person A, explained that people concerned by the security lapse were advised to change residences and alter their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the ruling authorities. Members of Parliament are currently examining the UK government's response of a serious breach of private information concerning approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to relocate to Britain to flee the regime. How the Leak Was Discovered A data file containing private information, such as identities, contact details and in some cases relative details, was mistakenly released by an official stationed at UK special forces headquarters in last year. The breach came to light only in August 2023, when identities of nine people who had requested to move to the UK surfaced on social media. Regime's Resources It appears there is a false assumption that the Taliban are without the same sort of facilities that we have,â she told the committee. All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire a contact number, they can locate you down to within metres. That's precisely what the unit did.â Under inquiry about whether the Taliban had access to advanced decryption, the source stated: âThey have complete capability.â Aftermath of the Information Leak Preliminary research provided to the committee indicated that approximately fifty relatives and colleagues of people concerned by the breach had been executed. A gag order regarding the leak was implemented in August 2023 and blocked all details regarding the matter from media reporting until mid-2025. Safety Measures Given injunction limitations, the source and the volunteer organization she was working with told Afghan families they were supporting that they had âapprehensions that somebody's phone had been compromisedâ. âOur suggestion was that they moved where feasible and switched their mobile numbers. These represented the crucial data that, if authorities had access to these details, would cause identification and capture,â the source testified. Disputed Conclusions The whistleblower contested that government assessment carried out by a former official had been wrong to determine that the acquisition of the dataset by the regime was ânot significantly alter an individual's existing exposureâ. âThe thing to remember is that affected people are not confronting the authorities; they remain concealed. The primary issue involves former occupations.â The source explained horrific violence suffered by concerned people, involving electrocution, simulated drowning, and violent assaults. âWe have had young kids who have had limbs fractured to force the family to reveal locations,â she testified.