Afghan War Leaks

The big news today of course is the leak of thousands of documents on the Afghanistan War by Wikileaks. The leaks detail the hundreds of civilian casualties caused by NATO forces in unreported incidents and the rise in Taleban bombs against NATO troops. 90,000 records were released by Wikileaks and a number of newspapers were given access beforehand so they could produce reports like this.

The leaks detail how the Taleban are using SAMs to shoot at NATO aircraft, US special forces embark on missions to capture or kill leaders in the insurgency and that Pakistan's intelligence agency is backing the Taleban. It has also been reported that the UK's GCHQ is helping the US pinpoint Taleban and al-Qaeda leaders for attacks by drones.

Much of the information dates from earlier in the war and many details were perhaps already assumed but this will be a torrent of bad press for the Allies.