WikiLeaks publishes the war diary of the war in Afghanistan

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Map of major American operations in Afghanistan

The publication of the war diary of the Afghanistan war ( English Afghan War Diary , abbreviation AWD ) took place on July 25, 2010 on the Internet platform WikiLeaks . It is a collection of 76,911 documents about the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The collection can be viewed or taken over by anyone.

Approximately 15,000 other documents that are particularly revealing threat reports have not been published to date (July 2012).

First, selected journalists received the complete documents for the investigation, an initial analysis of the data was then published simultaneously by Spiegel Online , The New York Times and The Guardian . The Berliner Tagesspiegel was also involved.

Origin of the documents

Most of the documents are front-line reports recorded by soldiers and intelligence officers. The other documents come from secret services, embassies and other sources. It has been suggested that the document collection was copied from the US military's SIPRNet .

content

Regional commands in Afghanistan (as of 2007). The current allocation of the AOR is available at bundeswehr.de (as of June 2010)

The collection primarily addresses the precarious security situation and suggests that the US and its allies were losing ground in the period leading up to its release. The Afghan security forces are portrayed as "helpless victims" of insurgent attacks. It also lists hundreds of reports of fighting between the Pakistani and Afghan armies on the joint border that is not recognized by Afghanistan.

The individual documents usually consist of just a few sentences in military language and are each sorted into different categories. This includes the assignment to a regional command, the date, the importance, the type of incident and what happened. Most documents describe direct attacks by the opponent or events dealing with booby traps. In terms of time, the number of documents increases steadily from around one hundred to two hundred documents per month in 2004, to an initial peak in summer 2007 with up to almost 2000 documents per month. After a slight decrease in 2008, the number of documents reached its maximum in the summer of 2009 with around 3,600 documents. A local view shows that the focus is clearly to be found in the regional commandos East and South.

Osama bin Laden

The documents suggest that Osama bin Laden is actively involved in the fight in Afghanistan. One report reported monthly meetings of rebel leaders in or around the Pakistani city of Quetta , in which he attended. There they organized and financed suicide attacks, according to the report. Another report alleges that he personally gives instructions for attacks against Hamid Karzai. He is also said to have praised a woman for her bomb-making skills and allegedly a poison was named after him

Security situation in the area of ​​the Bundeswehr

The increasingly difficult situation in northern Afghanistan is also highlighted. There are a large number of threat scenarios and specific warnings of impending attacks. The collection contains reports of monetary payments by the warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyār of 100,000 to 500,000 Afghanis ($ 2,000 to $ 10,000) to insurgent leaders.

Task Force 373

The documents also show the existence of an elite US force called Task Force 373 for the lawless killing of suspected Taliban leaders. The 300-man unit is also stationed in the area controlled by the Bundeswehr . It is responsible for the arrest or killing of people who are on the so-called JPEL (Joint Prioritized Effects List). The collection contains 84 reports in this context. The units are housed separately from the rest of the soldiers and have no names on their uniforms. According to the reports, they are recruited from the Navy Seals and Delta Forces , among others . They are under direct command from the US government and the ISAF leadership is only informed in order to close off certain areas of operation. The documents also demonstrate the use of cluster munitions by Task Force 373.

Joint Prioritized Effects List

The JPEL (Joint Prioritized Effects List) is a list of wanted persons who are advertised for arrest or killing and which is processed by Task Force 373. According to reports, 13 people from Germany have been placed on this list since 2007. Two of these people were arrested and two deleted due to lack of evidence. Another 31 people were added by other allies for northern Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Secret Service

The documents also include the role of the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, which is portrayed as the most important foreign supporter of the insurgents. Specifically, it is about the delivery of weapons and equipment. According to the report, members of the service meet with insurgents and are also expected to issue orders to kill, including those of Afghan President Hamid Karzai . They are also expected to attend strategic meetings to help build militant networks.

One report claims that former ISI chief Hamid Gul coordinated a planned kidnapping of UN workers. His name is also mentioned in connection with the planning of suicide bombings and the organization of arms deliveries.

Insurance

On July 30, 2010, a 1.4 GB file was published on the Afghan War Diary website as well as on the torrent website, which is presumably AES256 -encrypted and has the title "insurance.aes256" - in German protection. The content is so far unknown.

Reactions

The Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Hussein Hakkani , called the publication irresponsible.

The German Defense Ministry checked whether the publication would affect German security interests, but notes that, from the Ministry's point of view, there is nothing new in the documents.

With some reports suggesting that Croatian units were involved in combat, public unrest arose. The reason for this is that Croatian soldiers are officially on a peace mission. Croatian Defense Minister Branko Vukelić denied the allegations and announced an investigation.

United States

US government officials also reacted reassuringly and extraordinarily angry. National security advisor James Jones was outraged and condemned the publication. The Department of Defense said it would do everything possible to find the leak and expressed concern about possible future security leaks. At the same time, however, it was also announced that the information was basically nothing new and had been available for a long time. US President Barack Obama stated that the reports do not contain any aspects that have not already been discussed in the public debate. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on July 30th an "in-depth" investigation with the help of the FBI and said the publications were likely to endanger both the lives of the soldiers and the confidence of the allies. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen , said it could be that Wikileaks already has "the blood of a young soldier or an Afghan family" on its hands. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell asked for the documents back and for all data to be deleted from the WikiLeaks website.

Germany

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said after the publication that the information had been known to every informed person and also to specialist journalists for years. He also stated that the information would be available to the federal government and the opposition parties in the Bundestag. Zu Guttenberg advised the stewards to be “awake” during such lectures and to listen accordingly.

Hans-Christian Ströbele ( Greens ) welcomed the publication of the secret documents and said that far too much was secret and that there was a lie in the war. The Green Party leader Jürgen Trittin expressed himself similarly .

Rainer Arnold , defense policy spokesman for the SPD , also criticized the government's insufficient information on the activities of Task Force 373.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010. WikiLeaks, July 25, 2010, accessed July 26, 2010 .
  2. ^ Matthias Gebauer, John Goetz, Hans Hoyng, Susanne Koelbl, Marcel Rosenbach , Gregor Peter Schmitz: Revelation of explosive war documents: The Afghanistan protocols. Spiegel Online, July 25, 2010, accessed July 26, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Marc Thörner : AfghanLeaks - From the disappearance of the threat reports. WDR / DLF feature June 17th, 2012 Broadcast manuscript PDF
  4. ^ Marc Thörner : Protocols of a war. In: Der Tagesspiegel from July 27, 2010.
  5. ↑ WikiLeaks fallout: Tighter access to US secrets? In: The Associated Press.
  6. ^ Gregor Peter Schmitz, Marcel Rosenbach, Susanne Koelbl, Hans Hoyng, John Goetz, Matthias Gebauer: Unveiling explosive war documents: The Afghanistan protocols. In: Spiegel Online . July 25, 2010, accessed May 15, 2020 .
  7. ^ Sven Hansen: Documents on the Afghanistan mission: Log of the war. In: The daily newspaper . July 26, 2010. Retrieved July 28, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Report number 20060816155041SPV6092076699 of August 16, 2006
  9. ↑ Report number 200409011000031NAA6600800000
  10. ↑ Report number 200607144000042SVF7746377769
  11. ↑ Report number 20080501000042SXD26006400
  12. ↑ On the Wikileaks trail of Bin Laden. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. June 29, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2010 .
  13. ^ A b c d afp: Ministry of Defense examines Wikileaks reports. The West, July 26, 2010, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Matthias Gebauer, John Goetz, Hans Hoyng, Susanne Koelbl, Marcel Rosenbach, Gregor Peter Schmitz: Unveiling explosive war documents: The Afghanistan Protocols - The naivete of Germans: Growing problems in the north. Spiegel Online, June 25, 2010, accessed June 28, 2010 .
  15. ^ Matthias Gebauer, John Goetz, Hans Hoyng, Susanne Koelbl, Marcel Rosenbach, Gregor Peter Schmitz: Revelation of explosive war documents: The Afghanistan Protocols - Task Force 373: The secret hunters. Spiegel Online, July 25, 2010, accessed July 28, 2010 .
  16. ^ Matthias Gebauer, Sebastian Fischer, Philipp Wittrock: Task Force 373: The dirtiest side of the war. Spiegel Online, July 26, 2010, accessed July 28, 2010 .
  17. ↑ Otfried Nassauer : With cluster munitions on the Taliban and terrorist hunt. Berlin Information Center for Transatlantic Security , August 2, 2010, accessed on August 2, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Germany put Taliban on hunting lists. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. August 2, 2010, accessed August 2, 2010 .
  19. ↑ a b Comprehensive description of the war. ORF News, July 27, 2010, accessed on July 28, 2010 .
  20. ^ Helpers from Pakistan. ORF News, July 27, 2010, accessed on July 28, 2010 .
  21. ↑ Exposing explosive war documents: The Afghanistan Protocols - Secret enemy Pakistan: Problems with the alleged partner. Spiegel Online, July 25, 2010, accessed July 28, 2010 .
  22. ↑ Kim Zetter: WikiLeaks Posts Mysterious 'Insurance' File. Wired , July 30, 2010, accessed August 1, 2010 .
  23. ↑ Ben Schwan: Wikileaks publishes life insurance. In: The daily newspaper. August 3, 2010, accessed August 3, 2010 .
  24. ↑ WikiLeaks: Croatian soldiers involved in firefights. ORF, July 29, 2010, accessed on January 21, 2016 .
  25. ↑ USA hunt Wikileaks informants ( Memento from July 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ Data leak: Obama downplays the importance of the Afghanistan documents. Spiegel Online, July 27, 2010, accessed July 28, 2010 .
  27. ↑ New money for the war ( Memento from July 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ Afghanistan: FBI to pin down Wikileaks informants. Die Presse, July 30, 2010, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Charlie Savage: Gates assails WikiLeaks Over Release of Reports In: The New York Times. July 29, 2010
  30. ^ Pentagon reclaims documents from Wikileaks. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. August 6, 2010, accessed August 6, 2010 .
  31. ^ A b c d e Dispute over Afghanistan documents: Guttenberg counters cover-up allegations. Spiegel Online, July 27, 2010, accessed January 21, 2016 .