On 25 July 2010, WikiLeaks published 75,000 of more than 91,000 internal U.S. military logs covering Afghanistan from January 2004 through December 2009. The Guardian, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel compared the files with independent reporting and judged them authentic. The archive documented rising Taliban attacks, alleged Pakistani and Iranian support, previously undisclosed friendly-fire incidents, and the expanded role of U.S. special-operations units. It also showed that public accounts sometimes omitted or misstated the nature of military operations, although individual intelligence reports were often based on informants and were disputed by officials and journalists.
The records described civilian deaths that had not been publicly reported, including the 4 March 2007 Shinwar shooting, in which 19 unarmed civilians were reportedly killed and 50 wounded without charges or discipline for the Marines involved. They also recorded 144 Task Force 373 incidents involving 195 Afghan civilian deaths, while a 2007 U.S. airstrike was reported by locals to have killed as many as 300 people, versus an official claim of Taliban casualties. The Pentagon warned that WikiLeaks possessed U.S. government property and classified information and considered prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917. Critics, including President Barack Obama’s administration, also warned that exposed Afghan informants could face retaliation; WikiLeaks’ claimed redaction efforts and contacts with the Pentagon were contested.
