WikiLeaks Says More Afghan War Documents To Be Released Soon

Julian Assange (file photo)

Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, says the site will publish a final batch of secret documents on the Afghan war in "a couple of weeks."

The announcement came after the Pentagon on August 13 renewed pressure on WikiLeaks not to release additional secret documents, saying they posed greater risks than 76,000 documents that were released last month and calling their release the "height of irresponsibility."

"It would compound a mistake that has already put far too many lives at risk," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell was quoted as saying by CNN late on August 12.

Morrell also repeated a U.S. demand for WikiLeaks to "expunge all classified material" from the Internet and return the material it had to the U.S. government.

Assange, an Australian former computer hacker, says his website is boosting public debate about the war and questionable behavior by foreign troops.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders, which has supported some past work by WikiLeaks, has criticized the website's latest leaks -- saying the release of the documents could put lives at risk by revealing the names of Afghans who have been working with coalition forces.

compiled from agency reports