'Taliban tortured my dad and threatened to take my sister after MoD data breach'

'Taliban tortured my dad and threatened to take my sister after MoD data breach' An interpreter who worked for the British Army in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2012 has told of his trauma after names were leaked amid a Ministry of Defence breach A former Afghan interpreter who worked for the British Army has told how his father was tortured after their names were leaked in a Ministry of Defence blunder. He said the Taliban raided his parents' home and threatened to take one of his sisters if he didn’t send them money from the UK. The interpreter, who asked not to be named as he still has relatives in Afghanistan, worked for the Army in Helmand Province in 2012. He said: “I worked for them (the British Army) because I hoped they would help the Afghan government improve my country.” After British forces officially ended combat operations in 2014, the interpreter stayed in his home country to be close to his parents and seven sisters. But he explained: “In 2021 the situation was getting worse. The Taliban was capturing province after province. I knew I couldn’t live in that country anymore. I was receiving threats.” He applied and was accepted for resettlement in the UK with his wife, but before they could leave the Afghan government collapsed on August 15. With the Taliban at the gates of Kabul he had to wait at the airport until he managed to board a flight out on August 24 - leaving his family behind. Once in the UK he applied for his family to be able to join him, receiving confirmation at the end of 2022. By then, there had already been the data breach - accidentally releasing the names of 18,000 people, putting them at risk from the Taliban. He said: “I do not know if the Taliban had my data or not, but they know who my family was. Our house was looted and searched by the Taliban many times. “My father was arrested and tortured for two weeks. They were asking for money. They wanted me to send money or they would take one of my sisters. For my father, a 65-year-old man, it was not easy.” His parents and three of his sisters were eventually resettled in the UK in May 2024. Another sister had already been allowed into the country with her husband who also worked with the Army. His three other sisters have remained in Afghanistan with their husbands. He said: “They are here now, but it cost three years of depression and trauma. It has affected my mother very badly. They were calling me saying ‘why are you not doing anything?’ All I could say was ‘I’m trying, it’s not in my control’.” The interpreter said he still knows of people who helped the British forces and other agencies who remain in Afghanistan, adding: “I know of one person who worked in anti-corruption who has arrived here, he was a judge. But I know of another who is still in Afghanistan.” He also said he knew of Afghan special forces soldiers - known as the “Triples” - who fought alongside the British military who hadn’t been allowed to resettle in the UK. The interpreter spoke out as the cross-party defence committee released a damning report into the data breach. Chairman Tan Dhesi said: “This inquiry began with a data breach, but became about the real lives affected by delay, secrecy and flawed decision-making. "The government must now explain how it will protect eligible Afghans who cannot safely, lawfully or affordably reach a third country for UK entry-clearance checks.” Sara de Jong, co-founder of the Sulha Alliance, which offers help for former interpreters and their families in the UK, said: “I welcome the Report’s critical assessment of the Government's actions and its recognition of the human costs for Afghans affected by the data breach. “These human costs, from physical threats to psychological harm, are more significant than the Government initially accepted, as I know from daily contact with affected Afghans and from our survey research among 231 Afghans affected by the data breach, conducted with the NGO Refugee Legal Support.” Sara, also Professor of Politics at the University of York, who contributed to the select committee’s investigation, added: “We are currently in contact with several desperate Afghan interpreters and Triples who are still at risk and abandoned in Afghanistan, because they don’t have the financial means to self-move. “So we are grateful that the Committee has demanded that the Government explains how it will protect eligible Afghans who cannot safely, lawfully or affordably reach a neighbouring country for their UK visa processing. Almost 5 years since the withdrawal in August 2021, it is time to finally finish this mission of bringing those who stood by the British Army to safety.”