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An informant has disclosed the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind sensitive technology enabling Afghanistan's rulers to locate Afghans who collaborated with western forces.

Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk

The whistleblower, called Person A, testified that people concerned by the security lapse were advised to change residences and change their contact details to ensure their safety from the Taliban.

MPs are looking into the Conservative government's handling of a serious breach of personal details affecting almost nineteen thousand individuals who had applied to relocate to the UK to avoid militant rule.

Data Disclosure Occurred

An electronic document including confidential details, such as identities, phone numbers and in some cases household data, was inadvertently disclosed by an official employed at British military command in last year.

The incident came to light only in August 2023, when the names of nine people who had sought to settle in Britain surfaced on Facebook.

Taliban Capabilities

It appears there is a false assumption that Afghan rulers do not have similar capabilities that western nations possess,” she told the committee.

All equipment was abandoned in Afghanistan; they possess it. Should they obtain your phone number, they are able to track you down to within metres. That is what the unit did.”

Under inquiry about regarding if authorities possessed advanced decryption, the whistleblower stated: “They have complete capability.”

Impact of the Data Breach

Preliminary research provided to the investigation indicated that at least 49 kin and co-workers of people concerned by the breach had been killed.

A superinjunction about the leak was implemented in last year and blocked any information regarding the matter from public disclosure until July 2025.

Protective Actions

Due to legal constraints, Person A and the aid group she collaborated with advised Afghan families they were assisting that they had “suspicions that certain devices had been compromised”.

“Our suggestion was that they relocate when possible and altered their phone numbers. Those were the primary information that, should militant forces acquired this information, would result in identification and capture,” the source testified.

Challenged Assessments

The source argued that government assessment performed by a retired civil servant had been mistaken to determine that the obtaining of the information by the regime was “not significantly alter current risk levels”.

“The crucial point is that affected people are not confronting militant forces; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves their previous employment.”

She detailed terrible abuse endured by at-risk Afghans, involving electrocution, waterboarding, and physical abuse.

“There are cases of toddlers who have had limbs fractured to force the family to reveal locations,” the whistleblower revealed.