The biometric, social and business data the Taliban could use to target left-behind Afghans
Concerns are mounting that the Taliban has gained access to vast amounts of personal information through former US military and Afghan government databases that could allow them to target civilians.
It would be the first time the group has acquired the personal information of Afghan civilians on such a scale.
Afghans are also racing to erase social media profiles, while international organisations scramble to delete any remaining evidence that could reveal information on the locals they have worked with over the past 20 years.
And with reports that documents identifying job applicants and Afghan workers were left outside the British embassy, the threat of identifying information falling into the wrong hands is more real than ever.
But what information could the Taliban access and what could it mean for Afghan civilians?
Fingerprint scanners, iris scanners and other biometric equipment was used to verify voters in 2019 elections
Biometric data
At least three digital identity systems using biometric data are known to have been operated recently in Afghanistan, according to digital human rights group Access Now.
One of them – the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE) – was initially operated by US forces as a means of collecting iris, fingerprint and facial scans of criminals and insurgents during the war.
But it was later used to log the data of Afghans assisting the US among others, with investigative reporter Annie Jacobsen reporting that the Pentagon aimed to gather biometric data on 80% of the Afghan population.
Reports indicate that HIIDE equipment – and therefore the large centralised databases of personal information they are linked to – was seized by the Taliban last week.
It’s not known how many people’s sensitive, identifying information can now be retrieved by the group as a result.
The consequences could be fatal, with reports that Taliban fighters are going house to house to find people who worked with foreign forces.
But there are also less immediate implications which might stop people hiding from the Taliban from accessing services such as healthcare and further education, according to Brian Dooley of Human Rights First, a US-based human rights group.
“Will people want to go to hospital if they know that when they come into contact with the authorities, they will have access to biometric data and there’s no hiding who you are, and what your history was?” he told Sky News.
Human Rights First have produced guides on how to erase digital history and evade misuse of biometric data.
Two government-run biometric databases were also recently operational in Afghanistan: the controversial e-Tazkira identity cards and US-supported Afghanistan Automated Biometric Identity System.
“I think it’s probably wise to assume that the Taliban have got their hands on everything that the Afghan government had a couple of weeks ago, which was a lot of information on people,” said Mr Dooley.
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Afghan families in UK fear for relatives in Kabul
The 2019 Afghan election, for example, used voter verification machines with fingerprint, eye and facial recognition capabilities in a bid to curb election fraud.
Access Now also estimates that there may be several other digital identity systems using biometrics held by humanitarian organisations like the UN and World Food Programme.
Many of these international groups are now racing to do what they can to secure the data they have gathered.
Carolyn Tackett, deputy advocacy director at Access Now told Sky News:
“For humanitarian agencies like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Food Program (WFP) that have embedded biometrics into their service delivery, they are now facing difficult decisions about how to minimise data records and access points that put people in danger, while also trying to maintain their programmes in support of millions in Afghanistan facing displacement, food insecurity, poverty, and more.”
And while Ms Tackett does not have evidence of international organisations’ databases being compromised, she said “time is of the essence” when it comes to securing data.
“It is standard form around the world for host governments to require access to [international organisations’] databases for purposes of migration, law enforcement, and more,” she said.
“And it is likely only a matter of time before the Taliban present them with the same ultimatum.”
Social media
Since 10 August, many Afghans have scrambled to eliminate traces of their previous lives on social media for fear of retribution by the Taliban.
This includes the thousands of people who either worked directly with foreign forces as interpreters or worked in adjacent organisations in the years since US forces entered the country.
Abdul worked as a contractor for a Western security firm. His name has been changed to protect his identity.
He told Sky News that on the first day the Taliban took over he deleted everything from his Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. He deleted his LinkedIn in the following days.
He’s concerned that his connection to a Western company may make him a target of the Taliban.
“I deleted everything belonging to my career – even my birthday wishes from expats, who were mostly UK citizens,” he said.
He told Sky News he felt “scared, shameful and disgraced” to have to do it.
“It was against the commitments I made to my friends,” he said.
It’s a feeling shared by many Afghans who have had to erase evidence of their accomplishments for fear of reprisals.
Fatimah Hossaini, a journalist and women’s activist, shared an image of herself and three other female Afghan colleagues deleting their digital history in the days following the Taliban’s capture of Kabul.
She posted: “The last days in Kabul while we, four friends, Afghan women journalists were hiding ourselves in d house. we were deleting our posts & profiles & whatever we achieved over past two decades. Taliban fighters were outside & patrolling d area. Feeling broken & traumatized.”
She has since fled the country.
But not everyone may want to – or be able to – erase their online identity.
“For some people, it’s a horrible dilemma. Their ticket out is to be able to prove that they have some relationship with American forces or British forces, for example. If they delete that, it might be more dangerous for them,” said Brian Dooley.
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have all rolled out tools to limit who can see Afghan users’ profiles and connections.
Information held by businesses
While information online can be erased at the click of a button, sensitive documents stored in offices throughout Afghanistan are far harder to destroy.
The speed the Taliban captured Kabul means many did not have time to eliminate evidence which – in the eyes of the Taliban – incriminates them.
Smoke rises next to the US Embassy in Kabul on 15 August as diplomatic vehicles leave the compound. Pic: AP
Abdul was in his office on the day that the group descended on Kabul.
But on hearing the news he left, terrified.
His personal profile on the office admin files were left behind, as well as the duty roster with employees’ names on them.
“Every moment I think about it and what happens to me if they find me. It’s hard to imagine how cruel they are,” he said.
It follows the discovery by a journalist of CVs and job applications strewn on the ground outside the British Embassy in Kabul, with names and identifying information clearly visible.
Others have raised concerns about the possibility of the Taliban accessing call logs and location records of individuals, which are stored by telecoms companies.
While the risk posed by this information falling into the wrong hands is serious, experts estimate that there is still some time for some organisations to stop the Taliban gaining access.
“They’ve got their hands full by imposing their authority on a country. I suspect that large-scale tech detection is not what they’re going to be doing on day four or five. But maybe week four or five,” said Mr Dooley.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
An audacious Ukrainian drone attack against multiple airbases across Russia is a humiliating security breach for Vladimir Putin that will doubtless trigger a furious response.
Pro-Kremlin bloggers have described the drone assault – which Ukrainian security sources said hit more than 40 Russian warplanes – as “Russia’s Pearl Harbor” in reference to the Japanese attack against the US in 1941 that prompted Washington to enter the Second World War.
Ukraine war latest: Russia accuses Kyiv of ‘terrorist attack’
The Ukrainian operation – which used small drones smuggled into Russia, hidden in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks – also demonstrated how technology and imagination have transformed the battlefield, enabling Ukraine to seriously hurt its far more powerful opponent.
Moscow will have to retaliate, with speculation already appearing online about whether President Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons.
“We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher,” military blogger Roman Alekhin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Codenamed ‘Spider’s Web’, the mission on Sunday was the culmination of one and a half years of planning, according to a security source.
In that time, Ukraine’s secret service smuggled first-person view (FPV) drones into Russia, sources with knowledge of the operation said.
Flat-pack, garden-office style sheds were also secretly transported into the country.
The drones were hidden in truck containers. Pic: SBU Security Service
The oblong sheds were then built and drones were hidden inside, before the containers were put on the back of trucks and driven to within range of their respective targets.
At a chosen time, doors on the roofs of the huts were opened remotely and the drones were flown out. Each was armed with a bomb that was flown into the airfields, with videos released by the security service that purportedly showed them blasting into Russian aircraft.
These drones were used to destroy Russian bomber aircraft. Pic: SBU Security Service
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Among the targets were Tu-95 and Tu-22 bomber aircraft that can launch cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian side. An A-50 airborne early warning aircraft was also allegedly hit. This is a valuable platform that is used to command and control operations.
The use of such simple technology to destroy multi-million-pound aircraft will be watched with concern by governments around the world.
Suddenly, every single military base, airfield and warship will appear that little bit more vulnerable if any truck nearby could be loaded with killer drones.
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The most immediate focus, though, will be on how Mr Putin responds.
Previous attacks by Ukraine inside Russia have triggered retaliatory strikes and increasingly threatening rhetoric from the Kremlin.
But this latest operation is one of the biggest and most significant, and comes on the eve of a new round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv that are meant to take place in Turkey. It is not clear if that will still happen.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for the two sides to make peace but Russia has only escalated its war.
Ukraine clearly felt it had nothing to lose but to also go on the attack.
World
Eight injured in petrol bomb and ‘flamethrower’ attack at rally for Hamas-held hostages in Colorado
Eight people have been injured at a US rally for Israeli hostages after they were attacked by a man with a makeshift flamethrower and petrol bombs.
A group of people in Boulder, Colorado, were holding a regular demonstration to raise awareness of Hamas-held hostages in Gaza when they were allegedly targeted by a man who shouted “Free Palestine” on Sunday. The suspect was arrested at the scene.
Four women and four men aged between 52 and 88 were injured and transported to hospitals, Boulder police said.
The force said the injuries ranged from “very serious” to “more minor”.
Some of the victims were airlifted to hospital.
Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition.
Mohamed Soliman, 45, was holding several bottles
The FBI says the attack was a targeted “act of terrorism” and named the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman from El Paso County, Colorado.
He was also taken to hospital after the alleged attack.
Eyewitnesses said the suspect threw Molotov cocktails, an improvised bomb made from a bottle filled with petrol and stuffed with a piece of cloth to use as a fuse, into people attending the demonstration.
He also used a “makeshift flamethrower” during the attack, according to Mark Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office.
Two senior law enforcement officials told Sky News’ US partner network that Soliman is an Egyptian national who seemingly acted alone. They said he has no previous significant contact with law enforcement.
The ground appeared burned as the man was detained
People doused one of the victims with water as police arrested the suspect
The White House described the suspect as an “illegal alien” who had received a work permit under the Biden administration despite overstaying a tourist visa.
A large part of downtown Boulder was cordoned off as sniffer dogs and the bomb squad searched for potential devices.
Police chief Steve Redfearn said the attack happened around 1.26pm on Sunday and that initial reports were that “people were being set on fire”.
Phone footage showed smoke rising from a distance
“When we arrived we encountered multiple victims that were injured, with injuries consistent with burns,” Mr Redfearn told the media.
The police chief also said he did not believe anyone else was involved.
“We’re fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody,” he said.
The suspect is detained in Colorado. Pic: Reuters
Boulder’s police chief said the attack happened as a “group of pro-Israel people” were peacefully demonstrating.
The walk is held regularly by a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Video from the scene showed a bare-chested man shouting and clutching two bottles after the attack.
Other footage showed him being held down and arrested by police as people doused one of the victims with water.
Nearby there appears to be a large black burn mark on the ground.
Law enforcement used armoured suits as they searched for bombs. Pic: AP
Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old student, described seeing four women on the ground with burns on their legs. She said one appeared badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag.
She described seeing a man whom she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard shirtless, holding a glass
bottle of clear liquid and shouting.
“Everybody is yelling, ‘get water, get water,'” Ms Coffman said.
Lady on fire ‘from head to toe’
Another eyewitness, who did not give his name, said: “It was very strange to just hear a crash on the ground of a bottle breaking and then it sounded like a boom and then people started yelling and screaming.
“But I saw fire, I saw people screaming and crying and tripping and I saw the attacker – he had three Molotov cocktails.
“One of them he threw inside a group and one lady lit on fire from head to toe and then the other four people were also injured in the fire, but not as bad as the first one.”
A bomb disposal robot and sniffer dogs were also at the scene. Pic: AP
The eyewitness continued: “The attacker came out from the bushes and the trees… he threw another cocktail, and on the second one he lit himself on fire – I imagine accidentally.
“He seemed to have a bullet proof vest on, or some kind of vest, and then a shirt underneath it.
“And after he lit himself on fire he took off the vest and the shirt and he was shirtless.
“But he still had his Molotov cocktails in his hands ready to use them… ready to throw them and explode them on people.”
Lynn Segal, another eyewitness, said: “These shoots of fire, linear, about 20 feet long, spears of fire, two of them at least, came across right into the group, about 15 feet from me.”
The 72-year-old said two neighbours of hers, a husband and wife in their 80s, were at the demonstration. She added that the wife was one of the victims and appeared to be the most seriously injured.
“They’re both elders in their 80s, and you can’t take something like this assault to your body as easily as someone younger.”
Pic: AP
Ms Segal, who was wearing a “Free Palestine” T-shirt, said she watches the demonstrations to “try and listen” to what the volunteers are “talking about” because she is concerned about the hostages.
She added that she is concerned the attack will “divide this community”.
Another eyewitness told MSNBC that he saw the suspect “lighting people on fire while spraying gasoline on them”.
Brian, who is himself Jewish and asked that his last name not be made public, added that he saw victims “having their skin melt off their bodies”.
A statement from Boulder’s Jewish community said “an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement this morning: “This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews.
“I trust the United States authorities to prosecute the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law and do everything possible to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.
“The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped.”
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat , said it was an antisemitic attack.
“This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism,” he said on X.
A man pinned a sticker of the Israeli flag to a post near the scene. Pic: Reuters
Boulder is a university city of about 105,000 people on the northwest edge of Denver, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
The attack follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC two weeks ago.
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Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel’s war in Gaza.
There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
President Trump’s administration has detained protesters without charge and pulled funding from elite universities that have permitted such demonstrations.
Conservative historian Karol Nawrocki, who draws inspiration from Donald Trump, has won Poland’s presidential election.
Mr Nawrocki secured 50.89% of votes while his opponent, Liberal pro-EU candidate Rafal Trzaskowski, took 49.11%.
Earlier, an exit poll called the result the other way around – with both men declaring victory.
Mr Nawrocki had positioned himself as a defender of traditional Polish values, aligning himself with US conservatives, including Mr Trump, and showing scepticism towards the EU.
Rafal Trzaskowski in Warsaw after the exit poll announcement. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, Mr Trzaskowski, 53, had promised to ease abortion restrictions, introduce civil partnerships for LGBT couples and promote constructive ties with European partners.
The vote has been closely watched in neighbouring Ukraine as well as in Russia, the European Union and the United States – with the election being framed as Poland choosing between more liberal norms or a more nationalist path.
Karol Nawrocki addresses his supporters. Pic: AP
This runoff follows a tightly-contested first round of voting in May, which saw Mr Trzaskowski win just over 31% and Mr Nawrocki nearly 30%, eliminating 11 other candidates.
Mr Nawrocki won the vote despite discussions about his past dominating the last days of the campaign – from questions over his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner to an admission that he took part in orchestrated brawls.
“Everything was on a knife edge,” said 32-year-old IT specialist Patryk Marek. “Feelings are for sure mixed for this moment. But how small this margin was, it tells us how divided we are almost in half as voters.”
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Outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda spoke to Sky News earlier this year
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Poland’s new president will have significant influence over whether the country’s centrist government can fulfil its agenda, given the presidential power to veto laws.
Led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the government had struggled to pass legislation with Poland’s previous president in power and may find the same is true once Mr Nawrocki is sworn in.
Like his predecessor, Mr Nawrocki is expected to block any attempts by the government to liberalise abortion or reform the judiciary.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was convinced the EU could continue its “very good cooperation” with Poland.
“We are all stronger together in our community of peace, democracy, and values. So let us work to ensure the security and prosperity of our common home,” she said.
There has been some discussion about whether a win for Mr Nawrocki could lead to fresh elections in Poland.
Jacek Sasin, a politician for the opposition Law and Justice party, said: “The referendum on the dismissal of the Tusk government has been won.”
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