US databases in hands of Taliban could be used to target Afghans who worked with America

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – It appears that massive databases built by the US and its allies for the Afghan people have now fallen into the hands of the Taliban, and may be used to identify and persecute locals who worked with America during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, Associated Press (AP) reports.

There are “indications,” AP said, that critical information from databases such
as the Afghanistan Financial Management Information System, which held extensive details on foreign contractors, are being used to intimidate Afghans
who worked with the US. A spokesperson for Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, whose office is trying to help Afghans who worked with the US to leave the country, told AP: “People are getting ominous and threatening phone calls, texts, and WhatsApp messages.”

Among other crucial databases that are understood to have been left in Afghanistan is that of the Economy Ministry database, which holds all international development and aid agency funding sources, AP said. There are also iris scans and fingerprints for about 9 million Afghans, controlled by the National Statistics and Information Agency.

John Woodward, a Boston University professor and former CIA officer who developed the Pentagon’s biometric collection, told AP he is concerned that intelligence agencies that are hostile to the United States could obtain access to the wealth of data in the hands of the Taliban. “ISI (Pakistani intelligence) would be interested to know who worked for the Americans,” Woodward said.

Moreover, AP noted: “China, Russia, and Iran have their own agendas. Their agents certainly have the technical chops to break into password-protected databases.”

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