Wikileaks founder Julian Assange At A Press Meet

Spilling other people’s dirty little secrets is always exhilarating. And this time around, a top-notch whistleblower has chosen a sturdy opponent.

WikiLeaks, which is more than just a novice in this business, has ruffled quite a few bureaucratic feathers with its latest unearthing. They have published secret information regarding the Afghan war, which stretched on from the years 2004 to 2009. The reports count to over 90,000, and reveal some pretty nasty stuff covertly taking place during the war.

Some of the shocking points covered in the list include unreported killings of Afghan civilians, where innocent motorcyclists killed over suicide-bomber suspicions also come into the picture. Also figuring in the list are details of US operations, threat reports, and some sordid discussions between political and military officials.

According to reports published by The Guardian, the New York Times and a German weekly, Der Spiegel, the leaked information also sheds light on NATO concerns of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan being backed up by Pakistan and Iran.

Diplomacy or not, neither of the governments concerned is pleased with the new developments. The White House did not lose time in condemning the leaks as “irresponsible”. The Pakistani ambassador has chipped in his views on the leaks, which he said “did not reflect on current onground realities. In his own words, Husain Haqqani said, “The United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan are strategic partners and are jointly endeavouring to defeat al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies militarily and politically.”

A press release published on the United States Central Command website is the means of the military to rubbish the report. It says:

“The documents posted by Wikileaks reportedly cover a period of time from January 2004 to December 2009. On December 1, 2009, President Obama announced a new strategy with a substantial increase in resources for Afghanistan, and increased focus on al Qaeda and Taliban safe-havens in Pakistan, precisely because of the grave situation that had developed over several years. This shift in strategy addressed challenges in Afghanistan that were the subject of an exhaustive policy review last fall.”

Well, we guess we are hardly in any position to question its reality. But we think we might still have some appetite left when WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange keeps up with his promise of blowing the lid off the rest of the Afghan files he got his hands on.