In December 2010, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus claimed in an interview that a total of 4,100 Taliban rank and file had been captured and 2,000 others had been killed in the space of six months.
The claim followed another set of misleading figures that had been released three months earlier and which said US Special Operations Forces had captured 1,355 rank and file Taliban militants, killed 1,031, while having killed or captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban members through May and July of the same year.
The figures were apparently released for media publicity and intended to restore US reputation over its losses in Afghanistan, IPS reported.
However, unclassified graphs by Task Force 435 -- the military command responsible for detainee affairs -- on Bagram airbase's monthly intake and release totals for 2010, shows that only 270 detainees were admitted to that facility during the 90-day period from May through July 2010.
The US and France have denied Russian claim that Syrian air defence had intercepted at least...
