🔗 Share this article Taliban Employed Discarded UK Gear to Locate Local Nationals Who Worked With Allied Forces, Investigation Learns An informant has disclosed a parliamentary probe that the UK failed to secure sensitive equipment permitting Afghanistan's rulers to track down Afghans that had served with international military. Information Leak Endangers Thousands in Danger Person A, known as Person A, testified that people concerned by the security lapse were told to relocate and alter their phone numbers to ensure their safety from the ruling authorities. MPs are investigating the Conservative government's handling of a massive leak of private information involving nearly 19,000 individuals who had requested to come to the UK to flee the Taliban. The Information Breach Happened A data file with their personal data, comprising names, phone numbers and in some cases family information, was mistakenly released by a staff member employed at special operations center in last year. The leak came to light in late 2023, when identities of multiple applicants who had requested to settle in the UK surfaced on social media. Militant Technology It appears there is a false assumption that the Taliban lack similar capabilities that we have,” Person A informed the committee. Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; they have it. Should they obtain mobile details, they can locate your precise location. That is what intelligence groups accomplished.” During testimony about whether the Taliban possessed advanced decryption, the whistleblower confirmed: “They have complete capability.” Consequences of the Security Lapse Initial findings submitted to the investigation estimated that approximately fifty family members and co-workers of Afghans affected by the breach had been murdered. A gag order about the leak was put in force in last year and blocked all details about it from being made public until mid-2025. Protective Actions Because she was restricted, the whistleblower and the non-governmental organization she was working with told Afghan families they were working with that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been breached”. “We recommended that they moved when possible and altered their phone numbers. That constituted the two main details that, if authorities had access to these details, would cause their location being found,” Person A explained. Disputed Conclusions The source argued that government assessment conducted by a retired civil servant had been incorrect to conclude that the possession of the dataset by militant forces was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”. “The important fact is that these individuals are not confronting the Taliban; they remain concealed. The primary issue involves past work history.” She detailed terrible treatment suffered by concerned people, comprising electrocution, waterboarding, and violent assaults. “Instances include young kids who have had limbs fractured to force relatives to say where someone is,” Person A stated.