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An informant has told a parliamentary probe that British authorities left behind sensitive devices enabling the Taliban to locate local individuals who worked with allied troops.

Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk

The whistleblower, called Person A, explained that individuals impacted by the information breach were instructed to move homes and switch their phone numbers to protect themselves from militant forces.

MPs are investigating official handling of a massive leak of private information concerning almost nineteen thousand individuals who had requested to relocate to the UK to avoid the regime.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

A spreadsheet including their personal data, such as identities, addresses and sometimes relative details, was accidentally leaked by a worker employed at British military command in last year.

The breach came to light in late 2023, when the names of multiple applicants who had sought to settle in Britain were posted on Facebook.

Taliban Capabilities

“There seems to be a false assumption that militant forces lack comparable resources that we have,” she told MPs.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they possess it. If they have your phone number, they are able to track you down to within metres. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.”

During testimony about if militant forces owned sophisticated technology, the source confirmed: “They possess all resources.”

Aftermath of the Data Breach

Preliminary research provided to the investigation indicated that no fewer than forty-nine kin and associates of people concerned by the incident had been killed.

A legal restriction regarding the breach was enacted in August 2023 and restricted relevant facts about it from being made public until July 2025.

Safety Measures

Due to legal constraints, Person A and the non-governmental organization she was working with told individuals at risk they were supporting that they had “concerns that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they moved if they could and altered their contact details. These represented the two main details that, if authorities obtained these details, would lead to them being traced,” she said.

Challenged Assessments

Person A contested that internal investigation performed by a retired civil servant had been wrong to conclude that the possession of the records by the Taliban was “not significantly alter an individual's existing exposure”.

“The thing to remember is that these Afghans are not standing up to the authorities; they are in hiding. All concerns relate to past work history.”

Person A described disturbing treatment suffered by concerned people, including electric shock torture, simulated drowning, and severe beatings.

“There are cases of toddlers who have had their arms broken to try to get households to say where someone is,” she testified.