By Franz-Stefan Gady
The US military has performed another U-turn on releasing data on the Afghan National Security Forces.
The U.S. military command in Afghanistan has abruptly reversed a decision to classify data on the status of the Afghan National Security Forces. On January 30, the U.S. government watchdog for U.S. tax dollars spent in Afghanistan, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), announced in its 26th Quarterly Report to Congress that it could no longer publicly report on many aspects of the $65 billion effort to build up the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
According to the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the rationale behind the initial classification of data was the fear that it could be exploited by Taliban insurgents. However, as I listed here, one was hard pressed to discern in what way the release of information on non-combat related activities (such as literacy training for ANSF, salaries, or details on how $25 million allocated for women in the Afghan Army are used), would jeopardize the lives of U.S. and Afghan troops in the field.
Yesterday, this decision was reversed. While some data will remain classified (e.g. readiness assessments of army and police forces) around 91 percent of the data requested by SIGAR has now been declassified, according to U.S. military authorities.Stars and Stripes quotes Col. Brian Tribus, a spokesperson for the U.S. military command in Afghanistan:
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