Pecohub The Taliban is handing over three Afghans that it suspects of spying for Britain to Iran.
The transfer follows a secret deal between the two Islamist regimes to co-operate in arresting people who worked with British forces in Afghanistan.
The three are understood to have been included on a leaked list that contained names of Afghans who applied for asylum in Britain.
It included soldiers who worked with the British Army, as well as intelligence assets and special forces personnel.
British officials have now urged the Islamist regime to “honour” a general amnesty that it announced in 2021 after taking over the country.
Publications including The Telegraph were banned from revealing the leak under an unprecedented two year High Court super-injunction that was finally lifted in July, following a legal challenge.
The handing over of suspected British spies to Iran follows high-level negotiations between Taliban leadership and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials who flew to Kabul last week to formalise an intelligence-sharing arrangement.
The agreement allows both governments to pursue individuals identified in the compromised British database.
Senior Taliban officials said the suspected spies were being held in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and that their transfer to Tehran was awaiting approval from the interior ministry.
Sources claimed that the men had been named in a leaked spreadsheet containing the details of 25,000 Afghans who applied to the British Government to be resettled out of Afghanistan.
While it has not been possible to verify their identities, Iran wants to obtain the “kill list” because it contains the identities of more than 100 MI6 agents and British special forces personnel.
Iran seeks to use the suspected spies as leverage in ongoing negotiations with Western powers over its nuclear programme, while the Taliban hopes to secure diplomatic recognition of its government in exchange for the co-operation.
So far, only Russia has officially recognised the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan since it returned to power four years ago.
The Taliban has been holding at least 13 people said to be named on the leaked list at a house in Kandahar over the past few weeks.
Taliban officials have shared their names with Iranian intelligence forces, who then selected three they believed worked as British agents during the two-decade US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
‘Blindfolded and put on plane to Kabul’
A senior Taliban official in Kandahar said: “The names of those in the house were sent to Tehran after the IRGC officers’ visit, and they then responded that they believed three of them were spies and wanted them.”
He added: “On Saturday, the three were blindfolded, taken from the house, and put on a plane to Kabul.”
The Taliban’s decision to share the database followed internal deliberations within its leadership in Kandahar.
A second senior Taliban official in Kabul said some faction members opposed co-operation with Iran because of Tehran’s mistreatment of Afghan refugees.
However, the prospect of Iranian diplomatic recognition ultimately swayed the decision.
The agreement between the IRGC and the Taliban has deepened divisions between the Taliban administration in Kabul and top clerics in Kandahar.
Ministers in Kabul such as Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban interior minister, argue that the Taliban should be seeking bargaining chips against Britain rather than sending “valuable assets” to Tehran.
He is in conflict with the Taliban establishment in Kandahar over his hardline views and a crackdown on women in recent months.
The Taliban official in Kabul told The Telegraph that the interior minister was not satisfied with the handing over of the three alleged British spies, saying: “I don’t even think Haqqani himself is happy about it as he’s in conflict with the supreme mullah.”
He added: “When an order comes from Kandahar, [Haqqani] has no choice but to say yes.
“Haqqani wants to use them against the West, but the supreme mullah and the people are more focused on gaining recognition from as many countries as possible, even if it means co-operating with Iranians.”
The Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry attacked The Telegraph on Tuesday over its coverage of the leaked list, branding reports of the fact that the IRGC were meeting the Taliban an attempt to “divert the public from the genocide happening in Gaza”.
The security breach happened when a Royal Marine accidentally emailed the complete database to Afghan contacts in Britain instead of sending a limited extract.
The spreadsheet included names, telephone numbers and email addresses of Afghan soldiers, government workers and family members who had applied to relocate under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy following the Western military withdrawal in August 2021.
The Government imposed a super-injunction in September 2023 preventing media coverage of the data breach, which has been described as one of the most damaging intelligence leaks in recent history.
Johnny Mercer, the former veterans’ minister who served in Afghanistan, called the leak “gut-wrenching”.
Taliban officials told The Telegraph that the British cover-up of the list was pointless because it already possessed all the victims’ details.
The total relocation programme for Afghans could cost up to £7bn of taxpayers’ money.
The leaked database has created ongoing security risks for thousands of Afghans who assisted British forces during the war.
‘Focus on British spies’
An Iranian official said: “Many were released because they were only former Afghan soldiers, while others are being held for further checks. The focus is just on British spies.”
The co-operation agreement between the Taliban and Iran represents a shift in regional dynamics.
Both governments, isolated by international sanctions and lacking widespread diplomatic recognition, appear to be leveraging their shared hostility toward Western intelligence operations to strengthen bilateral ties.
The agreement follows threats from Britain, France and Germany to impose crippling economic sanctions if Iran does not resume nuclear talks by the end of August 2025.
Under a 2015 deal, Iran received relief from years of trade and banking restrictions in return for limits on its nuclear enrichment programme to prevent weapons development. That deal is due to expire on Oct 18.
The Taliban’s control of Afghanistan since August 2021 has enabled the group to access government records and pursue former collaborators with international forces.
The regime has previously been accused of conducting reprisal killings against Afghans who worked with Western militaries, despite initial promises of an amnesty.
