🔗 Share this article Taliban Employed Discarded UK Gear to Find Afghans Who Worked With Western Forces, Investigation Is Told A confidential source has disclosed an official investigation that British authorities left behind confidential devices enabling Afghanistan's rulers to identify local individuals who collaborated with international military. Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk The source, called Person A, stated that people concerned by the security lapse were advised to relocate and switch their mobile numbers to avoid detection from the Taliban. MPs are looking into the UK government's response of a serious breach of confidential data involving almost nineteen thousand Afghans who had requested to come to Britain to flee the regime. The Information Breach Occurred A spreadsheet containing private information, such as names, phone numbers and sometimes household data, was mistakenly released by an official working at UK special forces headquarters in early 2022. The leak was discovered only in August 2023, when details of nine people who had sought to settle in Britain surfaced on social media. Militant Technology “There seems to be a misunderstanding that Afghan rulers lack comparable resources that we have,” she told lawmakers. All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Once they acquire your phone number, they can trace your precise location. This is exactly how the unit achieved.” Under inquiry about regarding if authorities owned necessary encryption, the whistleblower declared: “They possess all resources.” Aftermath of the Data Breach Preliminary research provided to the committee indicated that approximately fifty relatives and co-workers of individuals impacted by the breach had been murdered. A gag order concerning the incident was implemented in last year and restricted any information regarding the matter from public disclosure until recently. Safety Measures Due to legal constraints, the source and the non-governmental organization associated with told individuals at risk they were assisting that they had “concerns that somebody's phone had been compromised”. “We recommended that they moved when possible and altered their mobile numbers. Those were the crucial data that, should militant forces obtained this information, would result in their location being found,” the source testified. Disputed Conclusions The source disputed that internal investigation performed by a retired civil servant had been mistaken to state that the possession of the records by militant forces was “not significantly alter current risk levels”. “The thing to remember is that these Afghans are not standing up to the Taliban; they remain concealed. The primary issue involves their previous employment.” The source explained disturbing treatment suffered by concerned people, including electrocution, waterboarding, and severe beatings. “We have had four-year-old children who have had their arms broken to pressure households to reveal locations,” she testified.