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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s finance minister warned Saturday that the release of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables will hurt U.S.-Afghan relations, and he denied a report that he called President Hamid Karzai an “extremely weak man.”
Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said it will no longer be “business as usual” between key Afghan ministers and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. The rift could jeopardize Eikenberry’s effectiveness as America’s top diplomat in Kabul at a time when U.S.-Afghan relations are already strained.
Zakhilwal said he never called Karzai “an extremely weak man” as reported in a U.S. Embassy cable dated Feb. 26, 2010.
The report is “absolutely, categorically wrong and false,” Zakhilwal said. “This leaves no trust between me and the ambassador — extremely little trust.”
He accused Eikenberry of misquoting him in the cable to further Eikenberry’s own opinion of the president.
“The ambassador has used my name to support his views of the president,” Zakhilwal said.
Eikenberry, a retired lieutenant general who once commanded troops in Afghanistan, warned last year against sending substantial numbers of troops because Karzai was not a reliable partner.
Eikenberry did not immediately comment on Zakhilwal’s remarks.
Details from a vast tranche of cables released by the WikiLeaks website portray Afghanistan as rife with graft to the highest levels of government. The leaks could further erode support for the nine-year war and bolster the concerns of U.S. lawmakers who have threatened to hold back aid until they are convinced the money will not end up lining the pockets of the political elite.
Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omar, has said that the presidential office was reviewing the documents, but that he did not believe they would strain U.S.-Afghan relations. He could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday.
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BEIJING (AP) — China, one of the biggest Internet policers, took no chances with the latest online sensation and blocked the WikiLeaks website Wednesday amid potentially embarrassing claims made in leaked U.S. diplomatic memos posted there.
Attempts to access wikileaks.org and cablegate.wikileaks.org were met with a notice saying the connection had been reset, or were diverted the user to popular Chinese search engine Baidu. That’s the standard response when the connection to an overseas-based website has been cut.
The U.S. Embassy memos — called cables, though they are mostly encrypted electronic communication — contain some frank talk about and attributed to Chinese figures and their North Korean allies.
In one, a Chinese diplomat is quoted describing North Korea as a “spoiled child” for attempting to win U.S. attention with a provocative missile test.
China’s representative to six-nation disarmament talks, meanwhile, is described by a South Korean diplomat as an “arrogant, Marx-spouting former Red Guard who ‘knows nothing about North Korea, nothing about nonproliferation.’”
Another memo reveals details of a Chinese contingency plan for North Korea’s collapse — the existence of which is likely to drive a wedge between the allies at the very least.
The leaks also claimed that leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party directed a cyber-intrusion into Google’s computer systems, and expressed concern over attempts by Iranian front companies to obtain Chinese nuclear technology.
It wasn’t clear when the blocks were imposed, although a vast swath of the Internet is inaccessible behind China’s firewall, including social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Human rights and political dissent-themed sites are also routinely banned, although technologically savvy users can easily jump the so-called “Great Firewall” with proxy servers or other alternatives.
China’s government has taken a low-key approach to the leaks, with the Foreign Ministry saying it would not comment on specific assertions in the cables.
“China takes note of relevant reports. We hope the U.S. side will properly handle the relevant issue. As for the content of the documents, we do not comment on that,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Global Times, a provocative tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece Peoples Daily, labeled the disclosure a “nefarious slander against China.”
It also wondered why the U.S. didn’t block the posting of the leaks, saying that raised questions as to whether it had reached some form of tacit understanding with WikiLeaks.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that WikiLeaks acted illegally in posting the documents. Officials around the world have said the disclosure jeopardizes national security, diplomats, intelligence assets and relationships between foreign governments.
The massive leaks were “embarrassing” and “awkward,” but the consequences for American foreign policy should be limited, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
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(Reuters) - the Pentagon said Sunday that he had a team of 120 members willing to review a massive leak documents Iraq war up to 500 000, which are supposed to be released by the WikiLeaks Web site during this month.
Pentagon spokesperson colonel Dave Lapan told Reuters time leak remains unclear, but the Ministry of defence was ready for a dump document as soon as Monday or Tuesday, a possibility raised WikiLeaks earlier statements.
Yet, people are aware of upcoming flight told Reuters not WikiLeaks expect to release files classified at least a week.
Full story: Pentagon braces for huge WikiLeaks unloads on war in Iraq |Reuters
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