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US-Led Mission in Afghanistan Accused of Withholding Key Security Data

Jeff Seldin

   WASHINGTON - Assessing the security situation in Afghanistan is getting
   increasingly difficult now that Western military officials have started
   withholding some data on militant attacks across the country, according
   to a key U.S. government watchdog.

   The warning from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
   Reconstruction, also known as SIGAR, comes as hopes for an end to
   decades of war appear to be fading following February's agreement
   between the United States and the Taliban, due to political infighting
   in Kabul and a steady increase in Taliban-initiated violence since the
   deal was signed.

   Only according to SIGAR, the full extent of the Taliban's offensive
   remains something of a mystery because coalition forces monitoring the
   violence are keeping the intelligence to themselves.

   "NATO Resolute Support (RS) restricted from public release data on the
   number of enemy-initiated attacks (EIA) that took place this quarter,"
   Inspector General John Sopko wrote in the quarterly report issued
   Friday.

   "This EIA data was one of the last remaining metrics SIGAR was able to
   use to report publicly on the security situation in Afghanistan," he
   added, noting it was the first time the NATO-led mission had refused to
   provide the figures since 2018.

   NATO officials defended their decision, telling SIGAR data on
   enemy-initiated attacks "are now a critical part of deliberative
   interagency discussions regarding ongoing political negotiations
   between the U.S. and the Taliban."

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