As Taliban fighters assumed control of Afghanistan earlier this month, they took control of U.S.-supplied military weapons and equipment along the way.
One particularly disturbing report indicates that the Taliban is currently using U.S.-developed biometric systems to hunt down Afghans who aided Americans during the past two decades.
“The principal agency data group”
According to the Daily Caller, Al Isha, which is a unit of the Taliban, obtained biometric scanners and a database of related information that had been left behind by the military.
The terrorist group is now using that data to identify and target Afghan citizens who worked with U.S. and coalition forces during the war.
Al Isha brigade commander Nawazuddin Haqqani told reporters that they were already finding success in their search for people who had previous worked with NATO or Indian intelligence.
“Now that Kabul is taken, operational work has taken a back seat and we’ve turned our focus on counterintelligence,” he said on Friday. “While most of the brigade is now resting in different madrassas, the Al Isha group is now the principal agency data group.”
According to the New York Post, Al Isha has already doubled in size to about 1,100 members in just the past month. Pakistani intelligence operatives and the Haqqani network, a Taliban-aligned extremist group, are said to be providing some assistance in analyzing the biometric data.
“I don’t think I will be here for long”
An Afghan National Army corps commander told the Post nearly two weeks ago that he was already living in constant fear.
“Well, I have reached home safely and am with my parents, wife, and child,” he said. “But I don’t think I will be here for long. They’re going door to door and scanning everyone with biometric scanners, and they’ll knock on my doors anytime now.”
He specifically cited Al Isha as the group conducting the scans.
It is unclear whether the devices and data were left behind carelessly or had been provided to the Afghan military by NATO forces who did not anticipate such a quick surrender by troops.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials were not quick to offer any details about how they will be responding to the latest security threat in Afghanistan. One report cited a source who insisted that they are “working on it,” but there is no way to know how many more lives will be lost before that happens.
The post Taliban forces using US biometric devices to hunt down Afghan citizens: Report first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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