Reputation Management Online

Rated by many as one of the largest intelligence leaks in U.S. History, WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website has released over 90,000 classified Pentagon documents that chronicle  over six years of confidential and classified information on Afghanistan war.  Founded by an Australian Internet activist, Julian Assange in 2007 , this site had earlier come up with a manual describing the military operations in the U.S. military Guantanamo Bay detention facility and also  published a classified Pentagon “Rules of Engagement for Iraq.”

The leaked documents might change the concept of war and the US role in Afghanistan. While millions of dollars are being pumped into the anti terrorism operations in Afghanistan, Wikileaks could jeopardize the basic objective of the  US presence in the war torn Afghanistan as these information will actually put  hundreds of Afghan lives at risk because the files identify informants working with NATO forces.  Experts also warn that these sensitive information could be misused by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to identify and target informers in the war zone.

It came as a surprise for many when Admiral Mike Mullen, the most senior US Military Officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff posted his views in Twitter on the the leaks of Afghanistan war logs instead of holding an official press conference. While the US preferred to down play the issue of  Wikileaks as something not very serious that demand a change in its war strategies in Afghanistan , the Afghan officials are taking the whole issue very seriously.

“The US is both morally and legally responsible for any harm that the leaks might cause to the individuals, particularly those who have been named. It will further limit the US/international access to the uncensored views of Afghans,” the Afghan official told a newspaper.

As the heat is fully on, the US officials have said they were working to see if the mass document release could prove harmful to the operational security or the endanger lives of informants in Afghanistan.  Though the Wikileaks have opened a flood gate of questions regarding the Afghan strategy of the US and its relationship with Pakistan, the country is trying to downplay it all. However, the fact remains that the national reputation of the country is clearly at stake with these unexpected turn of events!