Intelligence reports refute US claims of success in Afghan war

US soldiers in Afghanistan

Washington: Just before the release of a review of US strategy in Afghanistan by President Obama, two new intelligence reports have revealed an assessment that completely refutes the US claims of progress in the 8-year old battle in the war-torn country.

The reports have further assessed that there is a bleak chance of success on Afghan land and the role of Pakistan will be critical in the entire episode since it is to be seen whether Islamabad is able to wipe out terror havens operating within its territory.

The reports, however, say that there is some sort of developments in Afghanistan situation, which is a sign of limited success for US and allied forces, but the reluctance of Pakistani government to take action against terrorists in its tribal areas remains a serious issue. US officials have been saying for too long that terror outfits freely operate within Pakistan and cross into Afghanistan at their will to launch war against American troops.

Meanwhile, senior Pentagon officials have termed the reports on Pakistan and Afghanistan as baseless and out of date and said that the reports have been compiled by Washington-based analysts who have not spent time analyzing the ground reality during the war in Afghanistan, and have no feel of the situations in these parts of the world.

The debate, however, between the military and intelligence officials shows the seriousness over the Afghan policies which is basically moving around the fact that whether the United States can succeed without Pakistan’s help in the war on terror.

Air Force Bans Sites Publishing WikiLeaks’ Documents

WikiLeaks

Washington: The Air Force has banned the websites of major dailies, news organizations and blogs which publish WikiLeaks documents, according to Air Force officials. The personnel have been asked not to view these sites on work computers until further clearance is issued.

The Air Force has issued warning against the violators and said that the legal actions would be taken if anyone tries to access the banned sites. But at the same time, the officials conceded that the enforcement of the decision might not be fully effective because the personnel who have access to these cables at homes would be able to read the secret documents. The Air Force cyber specialist team, however, has worked very hard on procedures to keep classified documents off unclassified computer terminals. Only those sites having entire set of classified documents, not just excerpts, have been be banned, according to Air Force officials.

Meanwhile, Spokesmen in the Army, navy and Marines have clarified that there is no such intention to ban the portals of news organizations as the US government has already issued a directive in which it explicitly mentioned that the federal employees and contractors should not read the secret WikiLeaks’ documents and other classified materials.

A senior official in the US administration has stated that the decision to allow certain departments and employees to access the secret cables was made in order to let them verify the impact of the documents leaking in the public domain and evaluate the damage done to country’s security.