Privacy advocates raise concerns about US-built biometric system for Afghans

The United States created a biometric system to register as many Afghanistan as possible above 15 years ago, and it was a reason to worry now that the Taliban had taken over. According to NBC News, Advocacy Privacy worried [PDF] about the possibility of the Taliban using a database to identify and target individuals working with the Afghan government supported by the US and organizations that fight for women’s rights. The system database, which was distributed by the US with the Afghan government, reportedly contained millions of fingerprints, iris scans and photos of faces collected throughout the year.

While the exact number of individuals in the database is unclear, the medical staff of the Air Force discussed by publications to say he was ordered to scan the iris, take fingerprints and photograph the face of each Afghanistan coming through the hospital door when he was in service. Other military officers must have the same thing. The aim is to have a broad fingerprint database that can be searched by the authorities if a bomb is found.

That said, because the US military scans anyone and everyone, one veterinarian who helps collect Afghanistan biometric say it might be difficult to use a database to target certain individuals. Someone is in the database does not mean they work with government organizations or US women’s rights. Defense Department spokesman Eric Pahon also denied that Afghanistan biometric data was at risk. He told NBC News that “The A.S. has taken careful action to ensure that sensitive data does not fall into the hands of the Taliban. This data is not at risk of misused,”