Wikileaks posts 'Afghan War Diary,' 91,000 leaked documents on the war

On Sunday, Wikileaks, the document-leaking organization which was started with the intention of allowing whistleblowers to anonymously release government and corporate documents, released over 91,000 confidential reports related to the war in Afghanistan. The New York Times, Germany's Der Spiegel, and the U.K.'s Guardian were given the documents in advance, and independently confirmed their authenticity.

The Guardian called the reports "one of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history." It also took the incidents and created a downloadable spreadsheet around them.

Most of the files (over 76,000) appeared on Wikileaks website at about 4:00 PM PDT. The remaining 15,000 files, which Wikileaks calls the "Afghan War Diary" were delayed to allow names and other sensitive information to be redacted.

In a statement, White House national security advisor Gen. James Jones criticized the release of the documents. He said:

The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents--the United States government learned from news organizations that these documents would be posted. These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people.

The last such high-profile leak of military material occurred in April, when Wikileaks posted a video it titled "Collateral Murder." The video showed an incident from July 12, 2007 in which an American helicopter attacked and killed 12 people, including a reporter and photographer from Reuters, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40.

A former hacker, Adrian Lamo, later turned in an Army intelligence specialist, Pfc. Bradley Manning, as the source of the video, as well as numerous other documents given to Wikileaks. Manning has since been charged with unlawfully divulging classified information and could face a significant prison sentence.

Meanwhile, U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4 has analyzed the "Afghan War Diary." The documents cover the war from 2004 and the Bush Administration through the end of 2009 and the Obama Administration. Watch the video below.