War Unedited

The United States government has hit out at the Wikileaks website for its release of previously secret information that details American concerns over Afghanistan and unknown information about civilian casualties. Wikileaks, who have in the past released classified information about American military operations in the Middle East publish documents that they claim, “allege government and corporate misconduct” and have come under increasing fire from the Obama administration who accuse the organisation of endangering coalition forces lives in the region.

The documents were given to The New York Times, The Guardian and German news magazine Der Spiegel and presented what Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claimed represented “the story of the war since 2004″. The source of the leak is thought to be 22 year old US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning who was turned in my former hacker Adrian Lamo who feared the documents “might get someone killed”. Whilst Wikileaks claims to have removed any information that may cause any potential harm to coalition forces, the White House was quick to release a list of rebutting talking points on Sunday evening.

The email to reporters outlined three key points in which they attempted to discredit many of the findings in the document, the first point noting that they “don’t think anyone who follows this issue will find it surprising that there are concerns about ISI (Pakistani intelligence service) and safe havens in Pakistan”. The email also pointed out that the leaked information focused on the period of January 2004 to December 2009, before President Obama announced the new strategy in Afghanistan. It concluded with an open attack on Wikileaks itself, commenting that it was not an objective organisation but one that opposes US policy in Afghanistan. The documents themselves are available in their entirety on Wikileaks, however The Vibe can reveal the key findings of the leaked files.

The report found that Taliban forces has previously unreported portable heat-seeking missiles that can be used to shoot down aircraft, which may have been the cause of at least one attack on American helicopters in the country. Furthermore the documents outline information on US army and navy special forces sent out to ‘capture or kill’ leading insurgent and Al Qaeda figures. An estimated 2000 of these people are on the JPEL (Joint Prioritized Effects List) and the ‘Black Units’ sent out to track them down chose from this list. The report goes on to show that these missions have actually increased under the Obama administration despite some botched operations resulting in civilian casualties.

Whilst US national security advisor James Jones has claimed the classified information “could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk”, Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry took a slightly different approach. Kerry argued that “however illegally these documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan”.

The Massachusetts Senator’s comments may well reflect a growing tide of feeling within the president’s own party that suggests they are growing restless with his approach to the ‘war on terror’. Stories of attempts by a military base worker attempting to steal GPS units strapped to his leg and a police chief in Zurmat-Paktia province falsifying information about fire fights with insurgents, therefore allowing him to obtain more ammunition to sell on the black market present more unwelcome instance of institutional corruption in Afghanistan. As well as these more minor reports, claims of an ill-informed airstrike on what were believed to be fuel tanks stolen by the Taliban resulted in the deaths of numerous civilians. The case of Polish troops who mortared a wedding party in the village of Nangar Khel, in an apparent revenge attack for an earlier IED encounter, compound the leaked information’s harrowing specificity.

The leaked documents themselves in many senses have merely confirmed what many in the political and intelligence communities have been saying, that there is a question hanging over some intelligence and military leaders heads over how trustworthy their Pakistani allies really are. However information about previously undocumented or unconfirmed civilian casualties, military mistakes and Taliban weaponry have meant one of the biggest security lapses of all time is dominating the Afghanistan war debate. Whether this has any longterm effect however, remains to be seen.