![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() State Department, these are Afghan databases, maintained at the various ministries in Kabul, in all likelihood in the hands of those who now hold power. Unlike the database to which HIIDE has (limited) access, protected by the U.S. has developed in collaboration with the Afghan government for civilian purposes: census, fighting fraud such as “phantom salaries” for non-existent members of the army and police, and managing democratic processes such as voting. Eileen Guo and Hikmat Noori, in their investigation published on August 30 for the MIT Technology Review, made it clear that the real danger is represented by the biometric databases that the U.S. What soon became clear, however, was that HIIDE and the other devices used by the army are, in a sense, the least of the worries for Afghan citizens who were unable to board flights out of the country. a strategic advantage over the enemy: preventing attacks on the army and obtaining valuable intelligence on its plans and movements. “identity dominance” in the Central Asian country would give the U.S. military sources confirmed to The Intercept that during the offensive, the Taliban took possession of HIIDE (Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment) devices, used by the American armed forces for military operations and connected to the ABIS database, maintained at the Department of Defense and used to identify the targets of drone attacks, as explained by investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen.Īt first, its purpose was purely military: establishing U.S. Three days after the fall of Kabul, on August 18, U.S. Names, surnames, jobs, family connections, ethnicity, fingerprints, iris scans-which, if the “détente strategy” announced by the Taliban proves to be nothing more than a façade, as it is fair to assume at this point-could lead them with little effort to the people who have collaborated with Western forces, or worked for the government. A stockpile of weapons left behind by the army is now in the hands of the extremists, and there is still no clear picture of the arms they control.īut what was also left behind was a non-lethal weapon even more powerful than missiles or drones: the devices and databases for collecting and cataloguing the biometric data of the population. The whole world watched as the Taliban celebrated the taking of Kabul, and the ruinous US retreat from the airport, by brandishing American weapons and wearing their uniforms aboard their armored vehicles. ![]()
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