Most Taliban Captured In Afghanistan Were Civilians

Left to right: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen; U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan; and U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, commander, U.S. European Command and supreme allied commander, Europe, speak before the NATO and non-NATO International Security Assistance Force contributing nations meeting in Brussels, June 9, 2011. The meeting is part of the NATO formal Defense Ministerial. DOD photo by Cherie Cullen

Ninety Percent of Petraeus's Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians -- IPS

WASHINGTON, 12 Jun (IPS) - During his intensive initial round of media interviews as commander in Afghanistan in August 2010, Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success for raids by Special Operations Forces: in a 90-day period from May through July, SOF units had captured 1,355 rank and file Taliban, killed another 1,031, and killed or captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban.

The claims of huge numbers of Taliban captured and killed continued through the rest of 2010. In December, Petraeus's command said a total of 4,100 Taliban rank and file had been captured in the previous six months and 2,000 had been killed.

Those figures were critical to creating a new media narrative hailing the success of SOF operations as reversing what had been a losing U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Read more ....

More News On Most Taliban Prisoners In Afghanistan Are Civilians

Gen. Petraeus and the Phantom Capture of Thousands of Taliban Fighters -- AllGov
Petraeus’s Taliban POWs weren’t really Taliban -- Rediff
US data: 90% of captured 'Taliban' were civilians -- Press TV

My Comment: If true .... and it appears that this is the case .... puts into question Petraeus' Afghan strategy. This IPS report is disturbing and should be followed up with more investigative reporting.