What leaked documents are telling us about Afghan war

Question:

Does the report speak about the billions of dollars that has been wasted on a country and an administration that is reported to be the most corrupt in the world, and an administration that would rather see our troopers killed than to try and support them.

The second question is how much is the U. S. arms industry paying the Afghan government to insure that the war will continue on??

Hi Larry,
Hi folks.

A devastating scenario of a failing war is what these documents portray.
Despite the effort on the part of our Admn. to divert attention from our follies & acts counter productive to our goals, by focusing on Pakistan intelligence agencies,
the picture is clear.
The war we are fighting is going nowhere just more & more American lives lost & billions thrown away. The civilian casualties on Afghan side are fueling anti-American sentiment in that whole region exponentially compounding our difficulties.
About time we rethink our strategy, withdraw troops & go for a political solution taking all neighboring countries on board including Iran.

The public may like to read leaks from both wars, say ten years of WARS? Why now? This administration is swamped with disasters, threats, oil spills, tea parties, racists, and a General yapping in rolling stone and then quits hmmmm. Now security leaks, Some hater claimed the president does not work on the problems, let's see, the pay isn't that great and one lazy guy stayed in the W.H. for eight years for what? To leave a mess and fall off sofas with pretzels in his mouth and read from his notebook eight years. Another one was a player. Let the lies and propaganda games begin.

It appears US and NATO troops are guilty or very suspected of various war crimes against the Afghanistan people. Even the utterly corrupt Harmid Karzai repeatedly charged that CIA special op's had numerous midnight raids which directly resulted in the slaughter of large numbers of Afghanistan women and children.

When the Russian soldiers occupied Afghanistan, they also specifically targeted the Afghanistan children. It appears the CIA and some Special Op's units are doing the same thing. During the Russian occupation it was found if a Afghani child had their leg blown off or was severely injured, the adult men in that family would stay home to tend to their severely injured children rather than take up arms in the Taliban Occupation Resistance fighter movement.

The Russians poured out toy's that exploded upon contact and millions of plastic butterfly shaped land mines filled with a liquid explosive and fully capable of blowing a leg of anyone that stepped on them.

As in the war in Vietnam, the livestock across Afghanistan has undoubtedly been shot and slaughtered by depraved and callous US and NATO troops on the ground and from in the air. It is difficult if not impossible to learn how wide spread that is in Afghanistan. It is just as important however to understand that is occurring and not allow the US Military complex to stifle news of US and NATO war crimes against the Afghanistan people.

The Wikileaks also appear to support my claim and those of many, many others that America's CIA and the Pakistani ISI spy agencys are in fact supporting and working closely with the TALIBAN.

The Wikileaks and a high level press meeting by India exposed what I and other has been repeatedly stating over and over again that Pakistan is sending the Taliban fighters into Afghanistan to prevent India from being able to have the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline connect to New Delhi, India and have stability with India in Afghanistan.

In short, the War in Afghanistan is a Proxy War between Pakistan and India where Pakistan is trying to destabilize Afghanistan and America's CIA and the Pakistani ISI spy organizations appear to be actively helping the bad guys while taking American taxpayer dollars in the Billions in the process.

The Wikileaks appears to document War Crimes and US Crimes against the CIA and Pakistan's ISI spy organizations, no wonder the US Military and the White House is so alarmed by this huge US military document dump and intelligence breech.

Why it took so long for the leaks to come out? Why during the Obama´s administration?

@Rose,
Guess he should have been on the golf course every few days; then perhaps you would not have found him lazy. Your racial and political bias is getting in the way of facts.

Note: I am not the same "rose" who has commented on this blog at 1:00pm.

The entire reasoning behind the Afghan war must be questioned by Americans. This war is being conducted under false premises. It is not about nation building or finding terrorists or establishing democracy. It has to do with America's geo-political position in that region vis-a-vis Russia and China and the vast natural gas and oil resources of Central Asia. Hence the development of the well-invested Trans Afghan Pipeline through Afghanistan and the need to control the Taliban.

The NATO alliance is facing growing criticism over how the mission has been conducted and whether it can go on for much longer.

The retired Canadian General and former Chief of Defense Rick Hillier's autobiography "A Solidier First" came out in November 2009. He wrote an attack on the NATO alliance's performance in Afghanistan from his service as Commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), fighting along side of the US.

General Hillier wrote:

"The mission's leadership is "abysmal". Staff at NATO's headquarters in Kabul "had no strategy, no clear articulation of what they wanted to achieve, no political guidance and few forces."

"Afghanistan has shown that the alliance has become "a corpse, decomposing," . . . "Unless the alliance can snatch victory out of feeble efforts, it's not going to be long in existence in its present form."

The killing of Afghan civilians at the hands of US and NATO forces have been going on for close to a decade. The countless deaths of unarmed men, women, children, the elderly, pregnant women and their babies. Thousands more maimed. What "honor and pride" is there in this?

The continued recklessness of the US and NATO – both in action and attitude – in treating the Afghan people as less than human, a statistic of "collateral damage", while devasting their country – needs to be strongly questioned by Americans and the citizens of participating NATO countries.

It doesn't take leaked documents to determine that gross injustices and murder are being committed by troops. The killing of Afghan civilians has been well known for years. The Mujahideen in Afghanistan were substantially financed, trained and armed by the CIA in the 1980's (given $ billions by the US). They morphed into the Taliban in the 1990's. This practice of creating monsters when convenient, and then trying to control them, is resulting in the continuing murder of many innocents. Then we wonder why they hate us.

Billions of American taxpayer dollars being given to Pakistan during the depraved and utterly corrupt Republican administration of Bush-Cheney appears on official US Military documents tracking them to have funneled those free dollars to the Pakistani ISI spy agency who used that free money to equip, train and fund the Taliban killing US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

White House spokesperson Gibbs is stating 'the present administration' has been fully aware of the US military information that was leaked. Really? You knew American taxpayer dollars were being funneled by the Pakistani ISI to the Taliban??!

I would like to ask Julian Assange what his real purpose was in putting the documents out there. What is his agenda (hidden or otherwise) Is he loyal to America or is he loyal to "selling" his agenda, whatever it is.

A quick synopsis of GW Bush and the initiation of the Afghan War (or how we got into this mess):

– Substantial donators to GW Bush – energy giants Enron and Unocal, both attempted to negotiate, along with the US Government, the Afghan pipeline with the Taliban in the 1990's, when Bush was governor of Texas.
– Cheney, then CEO of Haliburton, also involved in the natural gas pipeline services as a Vendor, promoted this lucrative opportunity.
– The deal with the Taliban breaks down in 2001.
– America's "New War" later conveniently challenges Afghanistan in war.
– Unocal executive John Maresca addressed the House Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific and urged support for:

"Establishment of an Investor-Friendly climate in Afghanistan – we have made it clear that construction of our proposed Pipeline cannot begin until a RECOGNIZED GOVERNMENT is in place (in Afghanistan) that has the confidence of Government, Lenders and Our Company (Unocal)".

– "Conveniently" the new Afghan president is Hamid Karzai, a former Unocal consultant.
– Nine days later, GW Bush nominated another Unocal consultant Zalmay Khalilzad as his special envoy to Afghanistan.

The Karzai regime has proven to be extremely corrupt, yet supported by the US.

Energy economist John Foster wrote in March 2010, Global Research: Afghanistan, Energy Geopolitics and the TAPI (Trans Afghan Pipeline):

"As Western powers look for an end game in Afghanistan, that country’s role as a planned transit route for natural gas from Turkmenistan deserves scrutiny. The long-planned pipeline, named TAPI after the initials of the four participating countries (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India), has been prominently discussed in the Asian press but rarely mentioned in the West. The TAPI pipeline is geo-politically significant, but has major challenges that have not been widely discussed."

Our troops are there to protect the pipeline route for investors, against the Taliban. Natural gas and oil – in exchange for lives.

Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, states there are only between 60 and 100 Al Qaeda left in Afghanistan. This does not require 150,000 troops present with a cost of over $200 billion a year and loss of troop lives. Not to mention the cost of countless civilian lives numbering in the hundreds of thousands creating increased anti-American sentiments. What we're trying to accomplish in Afghanistan goes against the grain of country and its people. To build up a large state bureaucracy and counterinsurgency are manifestly failing. The Taliban is not going away due to the Pushtun representation in the community. The US should be working much more directly with locals around the confines of Afghanistan as it is made up of many tribes even though the majority is Pushtun. I find it quite synchronous that a web page describing leaked documents exists. Especially since these wars are currently 9 years old.

I don't see where the big problem is.

When Buracas Obama gets on the media channels and comments on the war of terror, or the South of the Border issue close to home, he get politico as usual. Never mind the people of Arizona begging for help and crying for their lives..Or the American soldiers been shot down like rubber ducks with one hand tied behind the other.

In short.. If there was an issue, Buracas Obama would have said something about "Change" and appointed a czar for it by now.

So let relax people!

In the latest report on the issue of leaked documents about the Afghan war, the report is stating that there is a Pakistani connection to the leaked documents.

The problem is that we western people know very little about the Pakistani culture, and because of the Bush Administrations close ties with the Pakistani government much about the war in Afghanistan was leaked by our people to the Pakistani government.

As an example, from the time a young Pakistani child is old enough to understand it's meaning they are taught the art of deception, it is second nature to a Pakistani to decieve anyone with the intent to profit or better themselves by being decietful. (ITS A CULTURAL TRAIT)

Much of the information that has been leaked about the war in Afghanistan is information that was gathered prior to our current administration, and in my opinion this information was sold for one purpose only.

"PROFIT"

Daniel Ellsberg's 1971 exposure of the litany of lies surrounding the VietNam War saved the lives of thousands of American troops which the U.S. government would have sacrificed in order to save face.
.
I believe WikiLeaks exposure of the Afghan debacle will also result in a number of GI's coming home on their feet instead of in a box.

Mr. Goodel let's hope you're right. Curious you're the only one that has put this in a historical perspective. Let's hope Wikileaks intentions are honorable.

US has been very mild in tackling the real culprits. They have let elements of the Pakistani government and its spy agency stew these murderous plans. What US should do is take on the Pakistanis directly. Since 2001 we have donated/committed nearly 18 billion dollars to this wretched country, and received nothing in return. Osama is still in hiding. Terrorist activities continue unabated with Pakistani ISI's covert support. Our tax dollars are being wasted in feeding an unreliable ally in form of Pakistan. The US needs Pakistan to access Afghanistan – a landlocked country. Currently Pakistan is the only viable option for US to combat terrorists hiding in the hinterland between Pakistan & Afghanistan. USA could save billions of dollars if it had a real ally in that region. And it can create one and more such allies by disintegrating Pakistan, and help our marines access the terrorist habitats directly from the Persian Gulf.
Many regions of Pakistan already have people who want to secede from the country. USA can help this process by coordinating with the political leaders of NWFP, Balochistan, Sindh and Karachi to disintegrate Pakistan under the supervision of the United Nations.
The Following new countries can be formed:
– REPUBLIC OF PAKHTOONISTAN
– REPUBLIC OF BALOCHISTAN
– PEOPLES’ REPUBLIC OF SINDHUDESH
– REPUBLIC OF JINNAHPUR
USA will then have direct access to deal with the terrorists without having to bribe the Pakistanis.

this is a war that will never end !!! lets go home now and save our children in harms way ,it will never stop. it has gone on for years.. lets spend this money at home where it will do the most good !!! bring our troops home !!!!

Mr. King/CNN editor,
I will abreviate my thoughts this way. Whomever leaked this classified information is in violation of U.S. Federal Law if they are a U.S. Citizen. If they are not and are a citizen of an Allied Country they are subject to criminal proceedings under thier countries laws and the Status of Forces Agreement for employment between that country and the United States. Either way I personally believe whomever is involved should be tried, covicted and executed for not only revealing secrets but placing U.S. Military and Allied forces in further harms way. The disclosing individuals/organization have no regard for life and should be treated as terrorists, all they are doing is furthering a cause of disharmony and continued violence. Mike

Anita,

So now journalism has to have an agenda? This is what happens when you are so brainwashed by the current so-journalism.

When all is said and done the success or loss will depend on the

"BODY COUNT." ACCORDING TO OUR MILITARY LEADERS, all of which are non-combatants.

Just remember this one fact folks.

No matter if it's one of ours or one of theirs

THE ARMS INDUSTRY PROFITS, EITHER WAY!!!!!

@gerald Jolly

unfortunately the same 'trait' corrupts our economy & drives us into senseless wars.
@Mike @ Anita

those tried & convicted should be those of our leaders & politicians who got us into Iraq disaster costing precious American lives & national treasure. The continuing Afghanistan folly costing American lives by the day & a 200 billion dollars a year tag.
Our politicians are responsible for putting our boys & girls in harm's way where we have no business to be.Not those journalists who let the truth come to the American public who deserve & need to know.

Please, let's stop this seemingly endless war. These people are tribal and have been , and want to remain so. Why don't we let them sort their own government out for themselves? How many more lives and how many billions of dollars will we dump into this quagmire?

@Mike

What happened to transparenc?. Don't we , as citizens of a democracy, have a right to know what is going on? If things weren't hidden , often merely for political reasons, there would be a lot less demand for other sources to give us true information. An informed citizenry needs valid news reports. We do not like to be kept in the dark, like mushrooms , and fed bs. Thank you/

This document should contin_ue to leak.when will the life of innocent people being wasted without remours. I am so. Ashamed with US intelligence for misguiding the entire world for their selfish intetrest.

When you in the military swear an oath, you do it to the constitution and the people of this country, not to the generals or the president. Not the Army, the Navy or the Air Force!
When those above you, the generals, the secretaries and the presidents, who swore to serve the people, but they lie and cheat to cover their misdeeds and inaptitudes, break laws,
it is your duty and obligation to inform the nation of those crimes!!!!
All above were appointed or elected by the people, paid by the people and the payor has the right to know what he gets for his money!!

That person who leaked the video of our cowboys shooting innocent civilians from a helicopter should be given a medal.
According to the Geneva Convention and the Nürnberg Trials willful killing of civilians is a major crime, punishable by death. We hanged a few germans just for that!!
The whisleblower did us a favour and the crew of the helicopter should be shot by a firing squad!!

This new leak is a blessing, although most of the info was already widely discussed in the world press. Only our press is supressing most of the truth about the two wars that is killing our youngs and wasting our money.
Afghanistan is reminding me of Vietnam, the same lies, the same underestimation of the enemy and the same excuses, "if we had more troops we can beat them" was said by Gen. Westmoreland and also Gen. McChrystal.

All of our political system is inapt and corrupt, they have very little knowledge what is happening outside the USA, they sell their souls for a few dollars so they can be reelected. They say what the special interests want to hear and dutifully serve those interests.
Example: Senator Obama´s speech in 2008 for the AIPAC and Pres. Obama at the university of Cairo.

Each nation gets the leaders it deserves!! If your only interest is where do you get a good hamburger, then you should just watch what Washington does in your name.
Or you can send hundreds or thousands of letters to the congress and the WH protesting this criminal wars we are fighting.

@ Rose

I am happy you corrected the first blog by a Rose, it sure did not sound like you. I also have a shadow Ted who comments occasionally.
I am glad you are back to your correct form.

@Mike

LMAO...Spoken like a true NUTZI....LMAO...Who do you think we are as a nation? We have no business occupying Afghanistan, nor did we have the right to exact war on Iraq...We are world bullies out of control and will pay the price eventually. We are forcing nations to arm against the U.S. In the case of Pakistan, we are providing the arms to them that eventually will be used against the U.S. Exposing the stupidity and errant killing on the part of U.S. and NATO forces is heroic of those who have done so. Believe it or not they will be crowned as such...HEROES. I twisted a rib reading your last sentence...silly human Mike!!!!! You should be a PHILOSOPHER...locked in an outhouse...

@Ikhan

How are you of late? I am very surprised by the large element of Palookastani's we have in this country and they have the right to vote. It's a fair estimate that 1 out of every 3 U.S. constituent at the ballot box is a dunderhead. To prove it look at our very recent history...Bush-Cheney...reelected in 2004...lmao...silly human race...

The leakage confirms what I have felt from the start–both wars are wrong. Afganistan did nothing to us and neither did Iraq. Thousands of miitary lives lost, thousands of lives destroyed through injury, an average of one service member daily commits suicide, thousands of innocent civilians dead or maimed, 2 countries destroyed, our country continues to pour billions of dollars into these money pits and coverups by the military and private contractors. Yet, Washington refuses to listento the will of the majority of Americans and stop these wars NOW! Washington is out of touch and not representing the people they are supposed to be representing. No one wins a war–there is never a victor.

Larry,
don't let this topic peter out.
@Cajazz
getting along thanks. I like this Palookastani label.Somehow they seem to be creeping out of the wood.
But seriously these dunderheads pose a threat to the American spirit come election time. Now more than ever all thinking Americans need to come out & vote to keep this country from their clutches. We are seeing dangerous levels of racism, hatred & propaganda infusing the body politic.
@Ted@Rose
good to see you folks are there watching out.

Hello Larry

The documents reported by Karzai Govt who blames every suffering in Afghanistan is due to Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI. In fact if a mosquito bites some one in Karzai Regime or Indian Regime, the blame it to be an ISI's agent. This has been a common practice of Indian and Karzai Regimes becaus they need an escape goat after all their failed war scheme. In the past from attack on Indian parliment to indian train bombing and all other terror attacks they have blamed Pakistan for them without any proof. An attack on Indian parliament in which no indian parliamentarian was ready to give his life to make it feel a real terrorist attack. Bravo India. Excellent indian drama scheme but still a drama is a drama.

@gerald Jolly July 26th, 2010 6:43 pm ET

Interesting about the Pakistani cultural trait.

@

Ecclesiastes 8:9

"Man has dominated man to his injury."

1 John 5:19

"The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one."

Psalms 146:3,4

"Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish."

Acts 4:25,26

"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One."

U.S. and its NATO ALLIES...STOP THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN...

@ Ted

Thanks for noticing. If it doesn't sound like me – it's not me! I guess you and I both have very common moniker names.

The understanding is the leaked documents are fairly "old" and more recent documents were not exposed. Prominent guests on LKL confirmed there is no tactical danger to troops as the result of the leak.

The documents exposed what we've known all along:

– Deaths of Afghan civilians at the hands of troops – both US and NATO. Many civilian killings unreported and/or covered up.
– The public downplaying of how bad that war is going.
– "Friendly fire" deaths blamed on insurgents. Western forces denying responsibility. More cover ups.
– The Taliban is far better equiped than thought.
– The war has actually contributed to the rise of more people joining the insurgency and Taliban.
– US initiation of the war in Afghanistan (and by extension Iraq) has actually made the world more dangerous rather than curbing threats.
– The "hunt" for Bin Laden is a pretext. It's not happening.

The US was far too committed to the Afghan war under GW Bush (the bulk of this past decade) and it's own interests, both strategically and for huge investors – for President Obama to effectively or suddenly exit from that region – which must be done regardless.

Escalation of this war must be cut. Easier said than done. Hopefully, the leaked documents will act as a catalyst to expose the many lies surrounding this war. An honest discussion about the TRUE reasons of this war would be a good start.

Anyone considering voting Republican should realize putting the GOP in power would only make this much worse. Let's not forget which party brought all this upon us and not reward the same group who got us into this massive mess.

The US has now circled Eur-Asian with many permanent military bases – that is why Afghanistan is so important geo-politically. Russia, China and huge investors are racing for the natural gas pipeline out of Central Asia (just north of Afghanistan). Iran, Pakistan and India are involved as conduits for the pipeline. For this reason, Iran must be controlled and the campaign for that has began.

Since the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, a "free for all" for the enormous natural gas and oil reserves in Central Asian Republics began. Let's not kid ourselves about this war or what we are doing there. That is why a bad war is getting worse. No one plans to leave.

The majority of those nations subject to our ambitions are Muslim. Our war-mongering and exploitation are occuring at their continuing expense. Let's not forget that next time we quickly vilify them as convenient "enemies" – whom we perceive to be in such "desperate need" of our democracy. Our condemnation of their supposed "ideology". They witness our methods used. They bury their dead children as evidence of our intrusion. Question this war.

Michael Moore, commenting on the Arizona imigration law gave us some insight into his very altruistic liberal attitudes. He rails against the law and encourages a botcott of everything Arizonan because of the unfair, discriminating nature of the law. "Hey! It's a big country. Plenty of room for everyone," he tells King. Then goes on to ask King, "haven't you ever driven across Kansas?" Sure Michael. Lot's of room in America "out there" in Kansas. But not as long as it's in your backyard? ... in some exclusive neighborhood I presume.

Pakistan has formally signed the gas pipeline agreement with Iran in defiance of the US campaign to isolate Iran. This counters Israeli interests re: pipeline and US in Afghanistan.

In "The Great Game – The War for Caspian Oil and Gas" by Christopher Bollyn – there is a clear connection between the Afghan war and Israeli interests. Former Israeli intelligence agent Yosef Maiman, heads a network of Mossad-controlled companies in Turkmenistan and Azerbijan. They are closely allied with Israeli commercial interests and military intelligence.

Maiman is president of Merhav Group of Israel and is the official negotiator and policy maker responsible for developing the energy resources of Turkmenistan. Maiman told The Wall Street Journal:

"This is the Great Game all over, geopolitical goals of both the U.S. and Israel in Central Asia. We are doing what U.S. and Israeli policy could not achieve – controlling the transport route (Trans Afghan Pipeline) is controlling the product."

The Merhav Group of Israel officially represents the Turkmenistan government and has brokered all of the energy projects there worth $ billions. In keeping with Israeli political interests, Maiman's planned pipelines BYPASS Iran and Russia. In 2000 Maiman acted as intermediary between the Turkmens and US firms including Bechtel – closely linked to GW Bush and his cronies.

Nimrod Novik, V.P. of Merhav said: "This is a common interest for the U.S. and Israel. The primary interest is to prevent the development of Turkish strategic depence on Iran, given the unique emerging strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel". Turkey has just signed a deal with Iran for a gas pipeline.

Israeli interests would greatly profit if the US led coalition were able to control Afghanistan via the TAPI gas pipeline. Given the influence of the Zionist Israel lobby in the US, the escalation of troops in Afghanistan at this time of questionable alliances, the recent signing of agreements with Iran by Pakistan and Turkey that would consume expected profits for US and Israeli investors and Israeli P.M. Netanyahu's timely insistence to bomb Iran – all begs scrutiny about the reasons behind this war.

Maiman is also Chairman of Ampal-American Israel Corporation (which he owns with Ron Lauder, Rupert Murdoch and Arnon Milchen). Murdoch is owner of Fox News. Need I say more about the promotion of certain right wing agendas concerning the warping of this very subject on that media's airwaves.