Afghan veteran warns data breach poses shadow threat ‘for years to come’

A former British Paratrooper who spent more than a decade serving in numerous operations across Afghanistan has warned that the data breach will pose a security threat for years to come. 

Ahmad Fahim said maintaining cover ‘is part of staying alive’ after it emerged that more than 100 British personnel — including members of the SAS and SBS — have been compromised. 

The personal information relating to serving and former members of the special forces and spies was emailed out in error, it emerged yesterday, after it was earlier revealed earlier in the week that thousands of Afghans had been put at risk by the error.  

Fahim, who often worked alongside US Special Forces in the country, warned that this type of data could be traded or passed on to other groups with greater capabilities than the Taliban. 

The spreadsheet sent out in February 2022 by a defence official was first revealed to have included the personal information of 18,714 Afghans before it emerged that members of MI6 and British special forces were also among those compromised. 

Fahim said: ‘As a former British Paratrooper who served in numerous operations across Afghanistan for over a decade, often alongside US Special Forces, this is a story I take seriously on both a personal and professional level. 

‘The leak of personal data, including the identities of over 100 British officials, some from specialist units, is more than just a serious administrative failure.  

‘Once information like that is exposed beyond secure systems, it becomes impossible to contain.

‘Whether it’s picked up by Taliban-linked networks, traded to proxy groups, or passed on to actors with broader capabilities, the long-term consequences are real.’ 

Fahim, who worked across Afghanistan for more than a decade, assesses that the Taliban and their affiliates have become more sophisticated in how they deal with sensitive material.  

He raised the prospect that the information may have been traded or passed on to nefarious actors with greater capabilities than the Islamic militants — including foreign intelligence services. 

Red flags that have already emerged include one person named in the dataset threatening to post it in a Facebook group.

The data is also understood to have exchanged hands in the UK for a large sum of money, according to The Times.   

‘The Taliban and their affiliates have become far more structured in how they gather and move sensitive material,’ Fahim said.

‘What starts as a local breach can quickly become global.  

‘Data like this can be sold or traded through shadow networks, shared with foreign intelligence services, or used for cyber-tracking, impersonation, mapping patterns of life, or even targeting contacts abroad.

‘These aren’t far-fetched scenarios, they’re the kinds of risks that follow people for years, especially those who’ve served in classified or high-threat roles. Operational security isn’t just about what happens in theatre, it’s about protecting our people long after the mission ends.

‘Many of those named in this leak worked in roles where staying off the radar wasn’t optional, it was part of staying alive and keeping others safe.  

‘That line’s now been crossed.’ 

A secret programme to relocate Afghans named in the dataset to the UK took place while the details of the breach were kept secret.

The largest covert evacuation mission in British peacetime history could end up costing billions of pounds.  

As a decorated veteran who encountered the Taliban firsthand and saw the chaos and death of the UK’s mass evacuation from Kabul airport in 2021, Fahim believes a threat remains to those still in the country.  

He now works in the security industry after a military career which began when he served as an interpreter for US Special Forces in Afghanistan, where he was born, before joining the Paras.  

‘The threat to Afghan nationals still inside the country is even more immediate,’ Fahim said.  

‘Many have no cover, no fallback. The fact that both British and Afghan individuals were exposed shows the scale of this failure. The least we owe these people is honesty and protection.’  

The breach took place when the official trying to verify Afghan applications to come to the UK erroneously sent out a large database.  

A super-injunction, meaning even the secrecy order itself could be reported, prevented the blunder being made public.

In the meantime, the largest covert evacuation in peacetime British history was launched to get Afghans out of the country.  

Entitled the Afghanistan Response Route, the programme has cost around £400 million so far and could amount to £850 million by the time it ends. 

‘Mistakes happen, but what makes this worse is how long it was kept quiet, not just ignored but actively hidden under an injunction,’ Fahim said.  

‘When something this serious goes wrong, leadership isn’t about silence, it’s about taking responsibility, fixing it, and ensuring it never happens again. If we say we stand by those who stood by us, then we’ve got to do better than this.’ 

The latest revelations can be reported after a High Court hearing yesterday, which enabled some of the spreadsheet contents to be reported.  

In a statement to parliament on Tuesday, Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘My first concern has been to notify as many people as possible who are affected by the data incident and to provide them with further advice.’ 

Mr Healey continued that it had not been possible to contact everyone affected as he outlined how anyone concerned about the breach can seek further security advice, including through a ‘self-checker tool’.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: ‘It’s a longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on Special Forces.

‘We take the security of our personnel very seriously and personnel, particularly those in sensitive positions, always have appropriate measures in place to protect their security.’ 

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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