US agencies purge websites to hide identities of Afghan collaborators

A number of US federal agencies that operated in Afghanistan and worked with Afghan citizens are now removing articles and photos of Afghan civilians who interacted with them, from their websites due to fear of retribution from the Taliban.

The online purge reportedly began late last week when it became clear that the Afghan security forces had completely collapsed and the Taliban would take over the country far faster than even the most alarmist official predictions.

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The agencies are concerned that the Taliban or its supporters would search the websites and identify Afghans who had worked with the Americans or merely benefited from their services.

According to State Department Spokesman Ned Price, the department was advising personnel to search for and remove social media and website content featuring civilians because the safety of Afghan contacts “is of utmost importance” to the government.

“State Department policy is to only remove content in exceptional situations like this one. In doing so, department personnel are following records retention requirements,” Price was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

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According to a statement by the US Agency for International Development, the agencies who operated in Afghanistan began clearing the websites on Friday — one day after the decision was made to send the US military to secure the Kabul airport as the capital collapsed.

“Given the security situation in Afghanistan, and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our staff, partners, and beneficiaries, we are reviewing USAID public websites and social media to archive content that could pose a risk to certain individuals and groups,” the agency said.

An official with the Agriculture Department said a similar scrubbing effort was underway. That official spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not cleared to speak on the issue.

According to an Associated Press report, at least seven different links to Afghanistan-related press releases or blog posts on the USDA website, when clicked on, defaulted to a page declaring “Access denied: You are not authorized to access this page.”

While much attention has focused on protecting Afghan interpreters and others who worked with the US military, soldiers were only a portion of the US personnel who operated in Afghanistan over the last two decades.