KABUL - Two American legislators have asked the Pentagon to revoke its decision on classifying information regarding key aspects of the war, including casualty figures, for Afghan security forces.
US Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Stephen Lynch said in a joint statement on Friday such information was critical for the inspector general’s oversight of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan,
Earlier in the month, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that the Department of Defense was no longer releasing data that had been publicly available for years.
They said: “We’re writing [to President Trump] about a recent decision by the Department of Defense to discontinue public reporting of information essential to conducting oversight of US spending in Afghanistan.”
Cummings and Lynch demanded an immediate reversal of this policy. They said classifying previously non-classified information would make it difficult for the Congress to track military spending in Afghanistan. (Pajhwok)