Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the release of information he said could endanger the lives of Afghan informants contained in files published by WikiLeaks.
Speaking in Kabul, he called the release "extremely irresponsible and shocking."
The website WikiLeaks this week released more than 90,000 classified U.S. military files dating from the Afghan war between 2004 to 2009, saying it held back some 15,000 documents which give the names of Afghans who provided intelligence to NATO troops.
But the British newspaper "The Times" has reported that it was able to find the names of dozens of Afghans in the information WikiLeaks published.
Also today, Karzai questioned the willingness of his Western allies to hit Taliban bases in Pakistan.
"The war against terrorism is not in the villages or houses of Afghanistan. If you remember for years we have call from Afghanistan that fight against terrorism is not in Afghanistan's villages and houses and it is not for martyrdom of Afghan people and army, but in the sanctuaries, sources of funding and training [of terrorism] and they lie outside Afghanistan," Karzai said.
He said Afghanistan itself does not have the ability to attack such sanctuaries but that "our allies have this capability and the question now is, why they are not taking action."
Pakistan said it was seeking clarification of what it called Karzai's "incomprehensible" remarks.
"We have asked our ambassador in Kabul to seek clarification as to why these remarks have been made," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said in Islamabad.
compiled from agency reports
Speaking in Kabul, he called the release "extremely irresponsible and shocking."
The website WikiLeaks this week released more than 90,000 classified U.S. military files dating from the Afghan war between 2004 to 2009, saying it held back some 15,000 documents which give the names of Afghans who provided intelligence to NATO troops.
But the British newspaper "The Times" has reported that it was able to find the names of dozens of Afghans in the information WikiLeaks published.
Also today, Karzai questioned the willingness of his Western allies to hit Taliban bases in Pakistan.
"The war against terrorism is not in the villages or houses of Afghanistan. If you remember for years we have call from Afghanistan that fight against terrorism is not in Afghanistan's villages and houses and it is not for martyrdom of Afghan people and army, but in the sanctuaries, sources of funding and training [of terrorism] and they lie outside Afghanistan," Karzai said.
He said Afghanistan itself does not have the ability to attack such sanctuaries but that "our allies have this capability and the question now is, why they are not taking action."
Pakistan said it was seeking clarification of what it called Karzai's "incomprehensible" remarks.
"We have asked our ambassador in Kabul to seek clarification as to why these remarks have been made," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said in Islamabad.
compiled from agency reports