Allegations by online whistle—blower WikiLeaks that the United States concealed civilian deaths in Afghanistan should not distract the international community from its efforts to stabilize the country, Britain’s top diplomat said on Monday.
WikiLeaks on Sunday published a record of 92,000 secret US military documents on the Afghanistan war dating from 2004 to 2009, alleging, among other things, that casualties from strikes were covered up.
“We’re not going to spend our time looking at leaks, we’re going to carry on with the internationally agreed strategy,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said as he arrived in Brussels for regular monthly talks with EU counterparts.
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German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, also taking part in the meeting, was more cautious about the allegations.
“Everything has to be evaluated ... of course you can’t do that in just a few hours,” he said.
Afghanistan was not formally on the agenda at the EU meeting, and WikiLeaks’ documents only referred to actions by the U.S. army, excluding the NATO—led ISAF mission to which Britain and other EU countries contribute.
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Mr. Hague insisted that a “good deal of progress is being made in building up the capacity of the Afghan state,” and pointed to last week’s Kabul conference, where a 2014 date was set for withdrawal of foreign troops, as proof of positive developments.
“So I hope that any such leaks will not poison such (positive) atmosphere and I don’t think they will,” he insisted.
Britain is seen as the U.S.’ closest ally in Europe and is the second—largest contributor to the war effort in Afghanistan, supplying 10,000 of ISAF’s 120,000 troops. Germany is the third—largest contributor, with 4,400 troops.
The U.S. plays the lion’s share within the NATO mission, supplying close to 80,000 soldiers.