The Taliban has claimed it already got its hands on the leaked list of thousands of Afghans who helped Britain, saying they were already being hunted down and they "cannot escape justice".
Dubbed the "kill list", it contains names of 25,000 Afghans who were applying for asylum, including soldiers who had worked alongside the British Army along with their family members.
The list was leaked in 2022 and was part of a legal cover-up with successive governments spending billions over two years to discreetly relocate those Afghans to the UK in a bid to avoid retribution from the Taliban.
However, the Taliban has responded to the revelations about the alleged cover-up by gloating about its existing access to the list.
A senior Taliban official said "we got the list from the internet during the very first days when it was leaked".
The official told The Telegraph that many on the list had either gone into hiding or fled Afghanistan, but a "special unit" had been launched to ensure they were found and "do not work with Britain".
"We've been calling and visiting their family members to track them down," the official added.
"Senior figures in the establishment in Kandahar are pressuring officials in Kabul to find them."
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GETTY | The Taliban
The official said senior establishment figures "believe these individuals are still working with the British" and want the "problem to be dealt with".
Another Taliban official further told The Telegraph that searches for the individuals had escalated in recent months, including names being handed to border forces to make sure they remain in the country.
Many were unaware they were on the list until they attempted to cross Taliban-controlled borders.
"The border forces have had the list for the past few months," the second Taliban official said from Kabul.
GETTY | Taliban with captured arms
"(They) have orders not to let anyone leave."
He said those people "are seen as traitors" and the plan was to find as many as possible.
"Whoever leaked that file is actually helping us," the official added.
"There may be a general amnesty in place, but spies cannot escape justice."
GETTY | The Taliban in Afghanistan
The UK Government has accepted that a court battle could have put the Afghans in greater danger.
An unprecedented super-injunction secured by the Government two years ago prevented the media, Parliament or anyone else revealing the details of an earmarked £7billion scheme to grant asylum to the Afghans - prompted by the breach.
The media was also banned from reporting the leak had even happened.
Ministers secured the first ever British Government obtained super-injunction over concern the list, accidentally shared by a Royal Marine in 2022, could be seen by the public - and ultimately with the Taliban.
Reuters | Taliban soldiers stand in front of a sign at the international airport in KabulIt was kept in place for almost two years.
That was amid a judge questioning whether the public were being misled.
Justice Chamberlain lifted the injunction and said there was a "significant chance" it was actually endangering some of the Afghans from being relocated to the UK.
Chamberlain said that keeping the list a secret could have "added more value" in the eyes of the Taliban.