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KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai was "surprised and shocked at the huge amount" of secret U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war published on WikiLeaks earlier this week, according to his spokesman Waheed Omar.
But he wasn’t shocked by the information that was revealed in the leaked documents.
"The president was not surprised at the substance of the documents. I don’t think that anyone was surprised," said Omar. "Most of what was leaked are things that we have been talking about for years. Things like: civilian casualties, the protection of Afghan people, the role of a certain intelligence agency, and the destabilizing activities here in Afghanistan."
The "certain intelligence agency" he was referring to is Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.
The 91,000 documents published by WikiLeaks appear to show, among other things, that agents for Pakistan’s ISI have been working in close collaboration with the Taliban for years. The allegations are particularly provocative since Pakistan is supposed to be a close U.S. ally in the war on terror and is also a recipient of billions of dollars of U.S. aid.
But, the response from Karzai and the rest of Kabul’s chattering political class to the WikiLeaks story seemed to reveal more about their long-term biases against their nuclear neighbor and rival Pakistan than any concerns over intelligence leaks or security. Kabul has long accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of supporting Taliban insurgents.
Sukria Barakzai, an independent member of the Afghan parliament, said that many Afghans feel vindicated by what was revealed in the documents.
"People are glad, not for the fact that there have been more civilian casualties in this war. They are glad that proper documents show the real face of Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan," said Barakzai. "We have been suffering from their double policy – on the one hand being a good partner, and supporting the war on terror, and the other side supporting terrorists back on their safe land."
Haroun Mir, a political analyst and a candidate in upcoming parliamentary elections, said that the documents not only shed light on Pakistan’s role, but they also pointed out that it’s time the U.S. reviewed its own relationship with Pakistan.
"Pakistan’s support of the Taliban is not a secret… But despite knowing, and despite the evidence, this U.S. administration is not acting against Pakistan? This is a big question in Afghanistan. "
Even the Taliban had their say about the leaked documents. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told NBC News, "It’s good for people to know about the inhumane killing of civilians, and that these documents reveal that there have been more acts of ruthless killings of civilians by the international/U.S. forces than originally reported."
Mujahid added that the Taliban is still studying the documents very closely – which may not be good news for Afghan informants for the U.S. military whose lives may now be in danger as a result of the document dump.
Karzai condemned the release of information that could endanger the lives of Afghan informants during a news conference on Thursday, calling it "extremely irresponsible and shocking."
"Because whether those individuals acted legitimately or illegitimately, by providing information to NATO forces, they are lives. And the lives are in danger now," he said.
The Pentagon has also said that informants whose names appear in the documents have reason to fear for their lives.
Kabulis, who are not involved in day-to-day politics, didn’t have the same reaction.
Engela Yalda, a student studying politics at the University of Kabul, looked puzzled when asked about the secret documents posted on WikiLeaks
"WikiLeaks…?" she asked. "I have never heard of WikiLeak…I have access to the Internet, but it’s exam time now and I only follow very important news. Can you spell that for me please?"
Ditto from a shopkeeper and a few other students – none of them were aware of the military leaks.
NBC News’ Iqbal Sapand contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Those people are absolutely right. There is nothing new in those leaked documents.
Bin Laden is probably having tea with pakistani intel officers right now.
Time to brings our troops home.
The sand fleas are living high off the sweat and blood of our troops and tax payers.
The ORACLE
I agree it is time to bring the troops home. Afghanistan is a lost cause and we lost that war back in 1989 when the soviets first pulled out along with our support for the mujaheddin. So yeah it's a waste and I'm sorry our troops are even over there and those who have died in Afghanistan have died in vain. This administration and the previous one have failed miserably and General Patreaus is too little too late.
You are just plain wrong. We cannot afford to lose this one, and if you don't understand why, I could never explain it to you. You mention this administation and the previous one, what about Clinton? What about Bush Sr? What about Reagan? Carter? You can trace the current problems all the way back to the discovery of oil in the KSA.
6 deleted, Dude-2096018 banned, registered to post about their genitalia, apparently.
Both Iraq and Afghanistan are dismal wars with no end in sight.
Iraq was unnecessary and sapped our military resources. Afphanistan, although necessary, has been mismanged from the start. It was never a conventional war. It has always been a guerilla war. We have become so politically correct, we have castrated ourselves. Where are the pro US muslim propagandists? Why are prisoners at Guantanamo given Korans? Hasn't that been the problem from the start? Re-education sounds like a dirty word, but it's a technique that works.
Nation building is just wrong. In war, you destroy and let the loser rebuild themselves. That usually involves the natives taking out the troublemakers who started the whole thing and hanging them. But if you nation-build, there is no incentive for the locals to fix their own problems and they eventually view the "invaders" as occupiers.
How all this will end is anyone's guess.
-sorry double post-
For Afghans, WikiLeaks shows 'real face' of Pakistan???? You are kidding, right??? What ever the leaked documents has leaked is the reliance of American military on rumors, the informants were Afghans who wanted a buck for a word, how could it showed them anything. Its like I tell you someone is trying to burn my house, you right down and then I see the paper and say oh I am shocked that someone was trying to burn my house?? Is this a crap or what.
This is how the Afghanis repaying the hospitality they recieved from Pakistan when Russia invaded Afganistan and thousands of Afghan refugees came to Pakistan and lived there for a decade and bringing their bad stuff in Pakistan like AK47 and opium. Afghans are kind of people who will never say Thank you to anyone instead will blame their mistakes and inability to controll their own barbaric warlords on others.
I love how Republicans keep whining about how this administration keeps laying blame for our current problems on the previous Bush administration and they need to man up and stop pointing the finger at Bush yet the same time they have no problem with continuing to point the finger at Clinton. Stop being hypocrites. If we have to stop pointing the finger at Bush they you definitely need to stuff a sock in it over Clinton. No more Republican "Do As I Say Not As I Do".
Actually CYSID I find it very ironic. After touting "Charlie Wilson's War" and and how Reagan "won the cold war" I'm not suprised at all the some of the people int he coutries we "won" over are pissed off. Everytime somebody arrogantly claims such is just another log for fuel on the fire. I've been wondering for for awhile if some other country hasn't been waging thier own "Charlie Wilson's War" on us. It just makes it even more ironic that it's a country that we are funding by proxy making us fight a "Charlie Wilson's War" against ourselves. I just figured it would be Russia not Pakistan.
For Afghans!!! The real face of pakistan is known for billion other people who leave in the sub-continent. As usual US is Hyporcrite and ignore these...
The reasons for our continued presence in Afghanistan are related to oil and other valuable natural resources, one of which is lithium. You may already have realized that any form of a 'new energy' type of economy is going to hinge on effective power storage ability (ie. batteries). So far, lithium is the horse to bet on. Hungry western business elites have already identified where the lithium is to be most readily found, and Afghanistan is a key place.
The reason why the coalition governments are still mucking around over there is because they have been enlisted by these business elites to do so....they want Afghanistan secured so that:
1. oil/gas pipelines can be built and operated without disruption. The oil and gas will be produced in neighboring countries that happen to be land-locked.
2. lithium will be mined without care for environmental damage or reimbursement to the local people. Bolivia is another place with great lithium deposits, but the local people have been resistant to allow outsiders to come in and take it without consideration for the environment or local peoples.
I encourage you to look-up these facts for yourselves. Hell, you can learn about alot of this stuff on WikiPedia.
WikiLeaks disclosures opened the lid on blunders by the US, British and allies’ policy makers and military planners. It also shows their ignorance of enemies like Taliban al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants. This disclosure has clearly mentioned that ISI is the ringmaster of these militant outfits.
If Nato forces’ losses are increasing, are they not due to the ignorance and inactions on key players in Pakistan? Don’t the Pakistani militant areas deserve severe punishments including carpet bombings? We should not tolerate double dealing backstabbers with double standards. Should we not beat them in their own games?
We need out of Afganistan quickly and a dismantlingf the military industrial complex. You don't see China is other countries with their military do you. China is spending money to help China. The USA is spending money the FED prints, and charges us for, on killing people...which policy is better??? American politicians are stupid,corrupt and greedy. Term limits would help.