Wikileaks under fire for recently released documents on Afghanistan War Crimes[lang_de]Wikileaks under fire for recently released documents on Afghanistan War Crimes[/lang_de][lang_zh]Wikileaks under fire for recently released documents on Afghanistan War Crimes[/lang_zh]

Jul 28

The founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks today defended his decision to publish thousands of secret US military files about the war in Afghanistan , faced with criticism from the White House for placing troops in danger.

Julian Assange said his organisation was currently working through a backlog of further secret material and was expecting a “substantial increase in submissions” from whistleblowers after one of the biggest leaks in US military history.

He said the files showed that “thousands” of war crimes may have been committed in Afghanistan.

The documents have revealed unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings and information about secret operations against Taliban leaders, as well as highlighting US fears that Pakistan’s intelligence service was aiding the Afghan uprising.

Assange rejected accusations that the leak had compromised America’s national security. “We are familiar with groups whose abuse we expose attempting to criticise the messenger to distract from the power of the message.”

“We don’t see any difference in the White House’s response to this case to the other groups that we have exposed. We have tried hard to make sure that this material does not put innocents at harm. All the material is over seven months old so is of no current operational consequence, even though it may be of very significant investigative consequence.”