Senators are demanding answers from the Biden administration in the wake of a bombshell Human Rights Watch report that reveals how the Taliban are using biometric data left behind last year when U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan to kill American allies who are still in the country.
Led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, eight Republican senators are requesting that the State and Defense departments hand over information related to the chaotic evacuation of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of the country, The Washington Free Beacon reports.
On top of abandoning $7 billion worth of military equipment, the United States also left behind ''sensitive data, including biometric data,'' on Afghan allies that are reportedly being used to target those who cooperated with the U.S. during its 20-year stay in the country.
''These systems, which were abandoned when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, contained iris scans, fingerprints, photographs, occupational data, home addresses, and names of relatives,'' the senators wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Free Beacon.
''The Taliban is using this personal information to increase targeted killings, torture, and forced disappearances of Afghans who helped the United States,'' they continued.
The senators are asking the Pentagon and the State Department to explain the ''policies and procedures governing when and how the U.S. collects sensitive data, including biometric data, of individuals working with the American military around the globe, including those who supported U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.''
In their letter, the senators also asked about safeguards to secure the data.
''Where is such data stored and how is it disposed of in the event of mission changes or unintended transfers of control of the data?'' they wrote.
With the Biden administration largely silent about the situation in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal, the GOP lawmakers want administration officials to explain whether there are any plans ''to help our Afghan partners that are being targeted with this information.''
They are also demanding to know what is being done to prevent a similar situation from happening going forward.
''What future steps will the administration take to improve its data collection and retention policies to be sure this does not happen again in places where we are militarily involved?'' the senators asked.
As the world's attention remains focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Taliban have increased their attacks on U.S. allies stranded in Afghanistan.
It's unknown how many Afghan citizens who helped the United States are in hiding while the Taliban searches for them using the U.S. government's data.
In its report, Human Rights Watch spoke with a number of Afghans about the Taliban's abuse of the biometric databases, including 12 with knowledge of the database, several human rights researchers who have documented the Taliban's use of the information, and U.S. military officials formerly stationed in the country.
According to the report, a former military commander still in Afghanistan said that in November, the Taliban detained him for 12 days, took his fingerprints and scanned his irises.
''They told me they took my fingerprints to check if I was military and if they could confirm it, they would kill me,'' he said. ''I was very lucky that for some reason they did not get a match.''
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