Watchdog: NATO-led mission in Afghanistan restricting attack data

The NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan has restricted the public release of data on enemy-initiated attacks for the first time, a US watchdog said in a report on Friday.

According to the quarterly report by the Congress-funded Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), mission leaders had said that the data was now an interagency discussion “regarding ongoing political negotiations between the US and the Taliban.”

The US and the Taliban signed an agreement in February in Qatar that allows a gradual withdrawal of all international forces from Afghanistan in exchange for anti-terrorism guarantees. The deal was intended to pave the way for peace talks between the warring Afghan parties.

According to SIGAR, the data on the attacks was one of the last remaining means through which the organization could publicly report on the security situation of Afghanistan.

Information related to who controls which districts was stopped in 2018. Since then, the Afghan government has also classified data on casualty figures among its forces.

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The SIGAR report also warned that Afghanistan was vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic due to a weak healthcare system, water infrastructure and high malnutrition rate.

Currently, more than 1,900 people have been infected with the virus in Afghanistan and over 50 have died. (dpa)