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Afghanistan
WorldRussia & Central Asia

Google locks Afghan government accounts as Taliban seeks to acquire emails

  • Records show that some two dozen Afghan government bodies used Google’s servers to handle official emails
  • Last month the militants reportedly seized US military biometric devices that could help them to hunt their enemies

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A Taliban fighter stands guard at a check point in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: EPA-EFE
Reuters
Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.
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In the weeks since the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan from a US-backed government, reports have highlighted how biometric databases might be exploited by the new rulers to hunt their enemies.

In a statement on Friday, Alphabet Inc’s Google stopped short of confirming that Afghan government accounts were being locked down, saying that the company was monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and “taking temporary actions to secure relevant accounts.”

One employee of the former government said the Taliban are seeking to acquire former officials’ emails.

Late last month the employee said that the Taliban had asked him to preserve the data held on the servers of the ministry he used to work for.

“If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous ministry leadership,” the employee said.

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The employee said he did not comply and has since gone into hiding. Reuters is not identifying the man or his former ministry out of concern for his safety.

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