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A whistleblower has disclosed the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK left behind classified technology permitting Afghanistan's rulers to identify local individuals who collaborated with western forces.

Data Breach Puts Numerous at Risk

The source, known as Person A, explained that people concerned by the information breach were advised to move homes and change their mobile numbers to protect themselves from the ruling authorities.

Lawmakers are currently examining official handling of a massive leak of personal details affecting approximately 19k Afghans who had requested to move to the UK to avoid militant rule.

Data Disclosure Was Discovered

A spreadsheet containing private information, such as identities, addresses and occasionally household data, was accidentally leaked by an official employed at UK special forces headquarters in early 2022.

The breach came to light in late 2023, when identities of several individuals who had requested to relocate to Britain appeared on social media.

Taliban Capabilities

Many believe there's a false assumption that militant forces lack comparable resources that we have,” Person A informed the committee.

“We left it all behind in Afghanistan; they possess it. Once they acquire a contact number, they can trace your precise location. That is what specialized teams achieved.”

When questioned about whether the Taliban had access to sophisticated technology, Person A confirmed: “They have complete capability.”

Aftermath of the Data Breach

Preliminary research presented to the inquiry indicated that at least 49 kin and co-workers of individuals impacted by the breach had been executed.

A gag order about the breach was enacted in August 2023 and restricted all details about it from public disclosure until recently.

Safety Measures

Given injunction limitations, the whistleblower and the aid group associated with informed Afghan families they were working with that they had “apprehensions that mobile communications had been intercepted”.

“We recommended that they change residence where feasible and changed their mobile numbers. These represented the primary information that, if authorities obtained these details, would lead to their location being found,” she said.

Contested Findings

The whistleblower disputed that internal investigation performed by a retired civil servant had been wrong to determine that the possession of the information by the regime was “unlikely to substantially change current risk levels”.

“The thing to remember is that affected people are not standing up to the authorities; they are in hiding. The primary issue involves former occupations.”

The source explained terrible violence experienced by affected individuals, comprising electric shock torture, waterboarding, and violent assaults.

“We have had four-year-old children who have had bones crushed to force the family to say where someone is,” Person A stated.