Last Afghan WikiLeaks out in 'couple of weeks': founder

I / Stockholm August 14, 2010, 15:39 IST

WikiLeaks will publish the last batch of secret documents on the Afghan war in "a couple of weeks", the whistleblower website's founder Julian Assange said today.

Asked at a press conference in Stockholm when the final batch of 15,000 classified files on the Afghan war would be published, Assange said that "We're about half way through, so a couple of weeks".

The announcement came after the Pentagon yesterday renewed pressure on WikiLeaks not to release the new secret documents, saying they posed greater risks than previously released files.

"We still are hopeful that WikiLeaks will not publish those documents and put further lives at risk," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan.

"We are concerned that the additional documents that they have may cause even greater risks than the ones they released previously," he said, calling them "potentially more damaging".

The Australian former computer hacker argues that his website, founded in 2006, is boosting public debate about the war and possible atrocities by US-led forces.

WikiLeaks earlier released 76,000 classified documents about the war which included accounts of civilian casualties and purported links between Pakistan's intelligence service and Afghanistan's Taliban.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders, which has supported some past work by WikiLeaks, has criticised the website, saying it could put lives at risk by revealing the names of people working with coalition forces.