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An informant has revealed the Afghan leak inquiry that British authorities left behind classified technology permitting Afghanistan's rulers to identify Afghans who worked with allied troops.

Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk

The source, called Person A, stated that individuals impacted by the data leak were instructed to move homes and alter their contact details to avoid detection from militant forces.

Lawmakers are investigating official management of a massive leak of personal details involving approximately 19k Afghans who had asked to move to Britain to flee the regime.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

A spreadsheet containing private information, such as names, phone numbers and in some cases relative details, was mistakenly released by a worker working at UK special forces headquarters in last year.

The incident became known in late 2023, when the names of nine people who had applied to move to Britain appeared on social media.

Militant Technology

It appears there is a misunderstanding that militant forces are without the same sort of facilities that western nations possess,” the whistleblower testified to the committee.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. If they have mobile details, they are able to track you down to within metres. This is exactly how the unit did.”

Under inquiry about whether the Taliban possessed advanced decryption, the source confirmed: “They have complete capability.”

Impact of the Information Leak

Early investigations provided to the inquiry estimated that no fewer than forty-nine family members and associates of individuals impacted by the incident had been killed.

A legal restriction concerning the leak was put in force in late 2023 and prevented all details about it from media reporting until mid-2025.

Protective Actions

Due to legal constraints, the source and the non-governmental organization associated with advised affected households they were working with that they had “apprehensions that certain devices had been breached”.

“Our suggestion was that they moved if they could and switched their phone numbers. These represented the two main details that, should militant forces acquired this information, would cause their location being found,” she said.

Contested Findings

The whistleblower argued that internal investigation carried out by an ex-government employee had been wrong to conclude that the acquisition of the records by the regime was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”.

“The important fact is that these Afghans are not confronting the authorities; they live secretly. Everything boils down to past work history.”

She detailed horrific treatment experienced by concerned people, involving electric shock torture, interrogation techniques, and physical abuse.

“There are cases of four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to pressure households to say where someone is,” Person A stated.