WASHINGTON — The American military command in Afghanistan on Monday abruptly reversed its decision to classify details about the Afghan Army and police, information that it had said could pose a grave security risk if disclosed.
The data, which includes figures like the number of Afghan soldiers and what it costs to feed them, had been readily available for the past six years. But last week word leaked that the information would be kept secret going forward, a move the American command insisted was needed to safeguard Afghan and American lives.
Many in Kabul and Washington, including members of Congress, expressed skepticism about that rationale.
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“Clearly, they realized they had made a mistake or that they over-classified in this case,” Mr. Bronstein-Moffly said.
He added that the coalition had told the inspector general that the freshly declassified information amounted to 91 percent of the data about the Afghan security forces that had been sought by the agency when it was preparing its most recent quarterly report to Congress.
