With Wikileaks releasing 90 - odd - thousand 'top secret' documents illegally handed to them by an American serviceman - who is now locked up - there has been a big stink raised about how Pakistan in some regards 'allegedly' have been supporting the Taliban when the US is giving Pakistan money to help the allies.

I say 'allegedly' because of the documents not stating facts, but opinion. The thing is, it IS a fact and this has been common knowledge if you've been following the Indo-Paki-Taliban conflict/s for the last few years.

Here's a snippet of an article written April, 2009.

"The Pakistani Army and ISI’s relationship with the Taliban, both as enemy and a strategic asset, provides a deep insight into Pakistan’s convoluted and self-destructive priorities."

http://themorningsidepost.com/2009/04/taliban-in-kashmir/

The release of the documents really is an interesting insight into world politics if you choose to look at it without biased blinkers on. World politics is complicated and sometimes you have to jump in the sack with the devil for the greater good. This is why many documents are labelled 'top secret' and are not for general consumption. Wikileaks did something SO potentially disastrous that I shudder just thinking about it.

What do you think about Wikileak's release of the information and are you surprised by the knowledge gained from it?.

I've had a look at the Wikileaks material - sampled it, really, using their handy index and cross-referencing capability - and I have to wonder whether the fuss that is being made about it has more to do with the embarrassment it has caused, rather than any actual "secrets" being released into enemy hands.

It's a gut feeling only, as I have only looked through around two or three percent of the stash. It isn't particularly interesting to anyone not steeped in the minutiae of the conflict, either, so my own boredom threshold may also be a factor.

StG asks:

>>are you surprised by the knowledge gained from it?<<

Given the circumstances in which the reports are filed, I'm not sure what constitutes "knowledge" in this environment. But I would place a reasonably large bet that there is nothing new in these documents, for anyone who might be in a position to use it against their enemy.

Except, as always, journalists. For whom this must represent a good few weeks of copy, and - for the more enterprising - the opportunity to write a book.

Nicely put Pericles. The little i have looked at was of no real surprise nor was most of it any news. I suppose the really damming thing is the amount of it. Not the leak but the incompetence of our governments and defence forces.
Probably more alarming is the information given by the former head of MI6 to the investigation into the Iraq war.
How much will it take before we are prepared to put on trial one of our own for war crimes. It would appear that it is only the other guys that are criminal in war and we are all saints unless we need a scape goat for the media.

They do name some of the Afghanis who are helping the government and
the Americans. That would put their lives at risk.

I congratulate Wikileaks. There should be MORE of this. Then we'd know more about how corrupt *ALL* sides are.

Documents marked "Top Secret" are NOT about saving lives; it's about gaining an advantage whether it be politically, militarily, strategically or socially. That's why they are marked "top secret".

Our leaders would like us to think it's a battle of good vs evil. That way they can sell, sell, sell more easily to a scared public. We ourselves are as much victims of propaganda as people on other sides. But we don't believe that is so...... we think we're the goodies and they're the baddies. World politics is utterly CORRUPT and SELF SERVING .... on ALL sides.

It's a joke that the serviceman is now in prison. The USA would have done EXACTLY the same thing themselves regarding "top secret" information from their enemies ...... in other words if they could get their hands on it (by any means) and steal it they **WOULD**. They would willingly do to others what's just been done to them.

The more the public knows about what's "really" happening, the better it is.

It was hardly news that Pakistan is know to maintain ties with terrorist groups and was at one point thought to be harbouring Saddam.

It is wrong to say that all Top Secret documents should be made available as many are to do with national security and defence strategy such as troop movements. Hardly something that should be for public consumption.

However, despite the above I suspect as has been offerred the leak was an embarrassment to the US spy agencies/defence team and we should always seek greater transparency rather than less where there is no discernible harm. I wonder how much information prohibited from release is to cover up government bungling and mistakes rather than legitimate 'secrets'.