Lashkar-e-Taiba-Linked Figure Says Group Supports Pakistan Army Against Taliban

The law firm Barings, which is representing the claimants, is seeking £50,000 in compensation for each client.

Robert Whitehead, the firm’s owner, said a letter before legal action has been sent to the MoD. He said the firm has evidence that some individuals whose data was exposed, or people connected to them, have been killed, while others have been extorted by the Taliban through threats against their relatives.

“It was the MoD’s responsibility to protect the data,” Whitehead said.

The legal action follows an unprecedented incident in which the Ministry of Defence accidentally disclosed the personal details of Afghans who had applied for relocation to Britain because they feared reprisals from the Taliban.

The database contained the personal information of about 25,000 Afghan applicants and their family members, as well as details of some British special forces personnel. In February 2022, a British soldier inadvertently released the data. The breach remained undetected until August 2023.

In response, the UK government established a confidential immigration scheme for those affected, known as the Afghan Response Route. Under the scheme, 7,355 people have arrived in the UK or are expected to do so. However, the route was closed to other victims of the breach in July.

Among Barings’ clients are highly vulnerable individuals, including former members of Afghan special forces who worked closely with the UK before the Taliban returned to power. Other claimants include former police officers and members of Afghanistan’s judicial system.

Adnan Malik, Barings’ data protection officer, said the firm has seen videos showing armed groups ransacking homes and searching for people who cooperated with Western forces. He said one client reported that his brother, a former Afghan police officer, was recently killed, which the firm believes was a direct result of the data breach.

In another case, Malik said a former senior Afghan army officer now living in the UK reported being forced to pay the Taliban to keep his son alive.

Criticising the MoD’s handling of the case, Malik said it was “very strange” that the ministry warned during several court hearings that lives were at risk, before later saying that lives were not at risk.

The Ministry of Defence has previously said that simply having a person’s name on the spreadsheet was highly unlikely to be sufficient reason for them to be targeted. The ministry has said it will “robustly defend against any legal action or compensation claims.”

In an updated travel advisory issued on Monday, the UK Foreign Office warned that violent clashes have occurred in border areas with Pakistan and that the overall security environment in Afghanistan remains volatile. The advisory also said the risk of detention of British nationals in Afghanistan has increased.

London noted that several border crossings in Afghanistan remain closed.

The advisory stated: “If you are a British national and you are detained in Afghanistan, you could face months or years of imprisonment.”

The Foreign Office stressed that its ability to assist British citizens detained in Afghanistan is extremely limited and that it cannot provide essential support inside the country.

It warned that any British nationals who choose to travel to Afghanistan despite the advice should carefully assess the risks, review their destinations and ensure they have appropriate travel insurance.

Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan have sharply deteriorated in recent months, leading to deadly border clashes. The United Nations has previously reported that at least 50 civilians were killed and 453 others wounded in clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani forces between 10 and 17 October.

According to the UN report, most of the casualties resulted from airstrikes and cross-border shelling in Spin Boldak and Kabul.

In a statement on the meeting, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan’s neighbours and Russia supported efforts to de-escalate tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan and expressed readiness to help strengthen those efforts.

The statement added that regional countries are prepared to assist in promoting stability in Afghanistan if requested by authorities in Kabul.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said participants emphasised the need for greater regional convergence to address existing issues and challenges, including those related to Afghanistan. The statement, released on Monday, said Afghanistan’s neighbours also stressed the importance of integrating the country into regional political and economic processes.

According to the ministry, regional countries, while underscoring ongoing security threats, expressed readiness to assist Afghanistan in combating terrorism and drug trafficking.

The Tehran meeting was held on Sunday, with the participation of special representatives from China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Despite Iran’s emphasis on consensus among Afghanistan’s neighbours and Russia, no joint statement has been issued so far.

The Iranian statement made no reference to human rights violations in Afghanistan, including restrictions on education and employment for women and girls, or the formation of an inclusive government.

Instead, participants stressed the need to strengthen economic and trade relations with Afghanistan to improve the livelihoods of the Afghan people. Tehran said countries at the meeting called on the international community to lift sanctions and release Afghanistan’s frozen assets.

The statement also urged countries considered responsible for Afghanistan’s current situation to assist in rebuilding the country and improving economic and living conditions without using aid as a political tool.

Participants further called on international organisations to support the return of Afghan refugees.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the second round of the meeting of special representatives of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries and Russia is scheduled to be held in Islamabad in March next year.

The meeting of Taliban clerics was held amid heightened tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In a statement issued after the gathering, clerics aligned with the Taliban declared the use of Afghan territory against other countries illegitimate and warned that action would be taken against those responsible.

Speaking on Sunday, 15 December, Ashrafi said: “It is now the responsibility of the Afghan interim government to ensure the implementation of the recent declaration issued by its scholars.” He described the statement as “a positive step in the right direction.”

Ashrafi said there was no difference between the positions of Afghan and Pakistani clerics on the issue, adding that attacks should not be carried out from Afghanistan against Pakistan, or from Pakistan against Afghanistan.

His remarks come as relations between the Taliban and Pakistan have sharply deteriorated. A surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan has contributed to rising tensions and clashes between Afghan Taliban forces and the Pakistani military.

In response, Pakistan’s military has carried out strikes on targets inside Afghanistan, including in Kabul. Following the escalation, the two sides engaged in several rounds of talks mediated by various countries, but the negotiations ended without a breakthrough.

Zakir Jalali, head of the second political directorate at the Foreign Ministry, made the comments in response to a regional meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan held in Tehran. Writing on X on Sunday, Jalali said Afghanistan under Taliban control does not require crisis-management mechanisms.

He urged Iran and other regional countries to abandon what he described as a “security-oriented approach” towards Afghanistan and instead focus on expanding diplomatic relations, trade and economic cooperation.

In recent days, Iranian officials have expressed concern about the durability of stability in Afghanistan. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday at the Tehran meeting that peace in Afghanistan would not be possible without cooperation from neighbouring countries.

Separately, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told a UN Security Council meeting on 10 December that forming an inclusive government representing the Afghan people was essential to prevent a renewed outbreak of war.

In his remarks, Jalali said Afghanistan before 2021 had been a “serious and alarming problem” for the region due to the military presence of dozens of foreign countries and the interference of regional and other actors.

He said that, given what he described as the Taliban administration’s “good intentions and economy-centred foreign policy,” Afghanistan could now become an effective bridge linking Central Asia with West and South Asia.

Taliban officials have repeatedly claimed they have full control over Afghanistan’s territory, that security has been fully restored and that the country is ready for trade and investment from regional and international partners.

At the Tehran meeting, Pakistan raised concerns about the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, an issue previously echoed by Russia and China.

Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, said the shared assessment of countries participating in the meeting was that terrorism originating from Afghanistan poses a major challenge to the region. He urged the Taliban to take concrete steps to eliminate what he described as terrorist groups from the country.

The regional meeting on Afghanistan began on Sunday in Tehran with representatives from Russia, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in attendance. Despite being invited by Iran, the Taliban declined to participate.

Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, said the decision not to attend was based on the view that Afghanistan already maintains active relations with regional countries through existing organisations and cooperation frameworks and has made what he described as significant progress in this regard.