Taliban used discarded UK kit to track down Afghans who worked with west, inquiry hears

"The UK left behind sensitive technology allowing the Taliban to track down Afghans who worked with western forces, a whistleblower has told the Afghan leak inquiry. The woman, known as Person A, said that Afghans affected by the data leak were told to move homes and change their phone numbers to protect themselves from the Taliban because it had the resources to track them down. MPs are probing the Conservative government's handling of a catastrophic leak of the personal details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had asked to come to the UK to flee the Taliban."

"There seems to be this misconception that the Taliban do not have the same sort of facilities that we have, she told MPs on the defence select committee at a private hearing on 18 November, the transcript from which was published on Friday. We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they have it. If they have your phone number, they can trace you down to within metres. That is what the [redacted] unit did."

Sensitive UK technology and personal data were left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal, allowing the Taliban to trace and target Afghans who worked with Western forces. A spreadsheet containing names, contact details and some family information for almost 19,000 Afghan applicants to the UK was accidentally leaked by an official at UK special forces headquarters in February 2022. The leak became apparent in August 2023 when names appeared on Facebook. A volunteer caseworker, Person A, alerted the Ministry of Defence. Affected Afghans were advised to move home and change phone numbers. Preliminary research estimates at least 49 family members and colleagues were killed.

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