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A whistleblower has disclosed an official investigation that British authorities failed to secure confidential equipment enabling Afghanistan's rulers to locate Afghans who collaborated with international military.

Data Breach Endangers Thousands at Risk

Person A, called Person A, testified that Afghans affected by the security lapse were instructed to move homes and switch their phone numbers to ensure their safety from the Taliban.

MPs are investigating the Conservative government's handling of a serious disclosure of personal details affecting approximately 19k Afghans who had asked to move to the UK to escape militant rule.

Data Disclosure Occurred

An electronic document with confidential details, comprising names, addresses and sometimes relative details, was mistakenly released by an official employed at British military command in early 2022.

The leak was discovered months later, when the names of nine people who had requested to relocate to Britain appeared on social media.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be a misunderstanding that the Taliban do not have the same sort of facilities that western nations possess,” Person A informed lawmakers.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they possess it. Should they obtain a contact number, they are able to track you down to within metres. This is exactly how specialized teams accomplished.”

When questioned about if militant forces owned advanced decryption, the source declared: “They possess all resources.”

Consequences of the Security Lapse

Preliminary research submitted to the investigation suggested that at least 49 relatives and colleagues of people concerned by the leak had been murdered.

A legal restriction concerning the breach was implemented in late 2023 and blocked any information about it from media reporting until July 2025.

Security Recommendations

Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the non-governmental organization she was working with told affected households they were assisting that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they relocate if they could and switched their mobile numbers. These represented the two main details that, if the Taliban obtained such data, would lead to their location being found,” she said.

Contested Findings

The source argued that internal investigation carried out by a retired civil servant had been wrong to state that the acquisition of the records by the regime was “minimally impact present danger”.

“The thing to remember is that these individuals are in hiding from the Taliban; they remain concealed. Everything boils down to past work history.”

The source explained terrible violence experienced by at-risk Afghans, involving electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and severe beatings.

“There are cases of young kids who have had bones crushed to try to get the family to say where someone is,” the whistleblower revealed.