Leaked files reveal Afghan atrocities

by Louise Nousratpour
Monday July 26, 2010

The leaked military documents detailing the brutality of the Afghanistan war are "fantastically damaging" to Nato forces and could spell the end of their bloody venture, peace campaigners have said.

Thousands of secret military documents have been leaked by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks revealing details of incidents when civilians were killed by occupation troops in the country.

The cache contains more than 90,000 US records giving a blow-by-blow account of fighting between January 2004 and December 2009.

They include references to incidents involving British troops.

The files reveal the operations of a secret special forces unit which is allegedly responsible for the "kill or capture" of Taliban leaders.

They also claim that 195 civilians have been killed in "error" and 174 wounded.

But campaigners argued that the real numbers ran into tens of thousands.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: "UN figures estimated that 10,000 Afghan civilians were killed by the end of 2001.

"We could easily triple that number now."

Ms German welcomed the revelations as "fantastically damaging to Nato forces and could be the beginning of the end of the war as the truth will turn public opinion overwhelmingly against it."

Recalling former defence secretary Des Browne's remarks that the Afghan war was the "most noble cause of the 21st century," she said: "The leaks tell a very different story about a sordid, brutal and unwinnable war. It's time to get the troops out."

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange defended the leaks, which he said had showed "the true nature of this war.

"The public from Afghanistan and other nations can see what's really going on and take steps to address the problems."

In response to the leaks, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "It would be inappropriate to speculate on specific cases without further verification of the alleged actions."

But he insisted: "Reducing the risk to local civilians has always formed an essential part of all military operations carried out by UK forces."

Former British commanders, nervous about the personal implications of the exposé documents, claimed yesterday that the leaks could compromise operational security.

Colonel Richard Kemp claimed: "It's potentially damaging to operational security," while Colonel Stuart Tootal groaned: "This is going to be seen as more bad news coming out of Afghanistan."