WikiLeaks documents: Turkish insurgents repeatedly target U.S. forces
WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. forces stationed at or in the vicinity of Forward Operating Base Bermel, located near the border with Pakistan, were subject to repeated attacks from Turkish militants in 2007. Detailed reports on these attacks emerged among the tens of thousands of documents on the war in Afghanistan published by WikiLeaks earlier this week.
NATO ally Turkey has sent peacekeeping forces to Afghanistan. The documents, though, describe attacks on NATO positions by Turkish insurgents. The Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to CNN's request for comment for this story. FULL POST
Leaks pose security concern for Afghans working with U.S.
U.S. military officials are assessing what damage could be done to intelligence contacts in Afghanistan after a number of names of local Afghans working with the U.S. military appeared on documents leaked by the WikiLeaks website, according to a U.S. military official.
A CNN review of the documents found numerous situational reports from troops in the field who name local individuals who either come forth with information or work with the military on a regular basis. References to such documents in this article are in only general terms. FULL POST
Shoulder-fired missiles a threat to U.S. troops
Among the 90,000 secret U.S. military documents posted on the internet this week by WikiLeaks are more than a dozen reports of possible attacks on Afghanistan coalition aircraft using heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles.
It was that type of missile that brought down numerous Soviet military aircraft when the Soviet Union tried to occupy Afghanistan in the 1980s. FULL POST
WikiLeaks documents: What we've learned so far
Thousands of leaked classified documents published by WikiLeaks.org have given a rare glimpse into some operations on the ground in the Afghanistan war.
The firsthand accounts are the military's raw data on the war, including numbers killed, casualties, threat reports and the like, according to Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks.org. CNN has been unable to confirm the documents are authentic. Our reporters are digging into the tens of thousands of documents to see what we can learn about the war, troop operations, insurgent attacks and tactical issues.
Here's what we've learned about so far:
Toll of enemy ambushes
Some of the leaked messages reveal a strategic pattern of hit-and-run ambushes by enemy forces operating in Afghanistan - attacks that the U.S.-led military coalition began to treat as routine occurrences. FULL POST
Leaked documents show daily toll of enemy ambushes
Leaked military messages published by WikiLeaks.org reveal a strategic pattern of hit-and-run ambushes by enemy forces operating in Afghanistan - attacks that the U.S.-led military coalition began to treat as a
routine occurrence.
The material details more than 530 separate incidents of ambush-style assaults. While likely only a fraction of the total number of such attacks, taken together they show U.S. and its coalition partners, along with a variety of Afghan military and security branches, were mostly helpless to prevent or anticipate them, which occurred across the Afghan theater of fighting. FULL POST
All out effort to find missing soldier, documents show
When U.S. Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl was first discovered missing from his base in southeastern Afghanistan last summer, the commander of his unit quickly ordered "all operations will cease until missing soldier is found."
"All assets will be focused on the DUSTWUN (duty status - whereabouts unknown) situation and sustainment operations," according to one of the 90,000 secret military reports released this week by WikiLeaks. FULL POST
Leaked report: Media led military to re-examine deadly attack
A report among the 90,000 secret U.S. military documents published by a whistleblower website over the weekend shows the confusion that led to what turned into a controversial attack in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
One leaked document shows how NATO troops were very mistaken in a deadly air attack on two stolen fuel tankers last year. The NATO troops knew that two tankers had been stolen by the Taliban and had found that they were stuck in a
river that the Taliban drivers were trying to cross.
Truckers shaken down from both sides, reports show
Truckers moving vital supplies along the roads of war-torn Afghanistan have faced shakedowns by both the Taliban and Afghan authorities, with Taliban fighters charging up to $500 for safe passage, leaked U.S. military reports show.
A trucking company working in Afghanistan told American forces "that they were approached by Taliban personnel to talk about payment for the safe passage of convoys through their area," one 2007 report states. "The current price for passage is $500 US per truck from Kandahar to Herat, $50 US per truck from Kabul to Ghazni, $100 US per truck from Ghazni to Orgun-E, and $200-300 US per truck from Orgun-E to Wazi Kwah."
Leaked documents offer few glimpses of bin Laden
The recently released cache of U.S. reports from Afghanistan provides fleeting glimpses into the possible whereabouts of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the years since his escape from American forces at Tora Bora.
Documents released by the whistle-blower website Wikileaks and published in the British newspaper The Guardian quoted intelligence sources as saying bin Laden wanted al Qaeda operatives disguised as journalists to attack Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a news conference in 2004. In 2005, his financial adviser and an Afghan insurgent leader reportedly were dispatched to obtain rockets from North Korea to use against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Documents reveal infighting, drug use among Afghan forces
Internal military documents published by WikiLeaks.org reveal conflict among Afghan security forces, including attacks on one another, as well as heavy drug use among soldiers.
The material details more than 60 "Green on Green" incidents in which Afghan military personnel were more concerned with battling each other, rather than insurgents. FULL POST
