The Pentagon has told WikiLeaks it would be the "height of irresponsibility" if it went through with a new threat to publish outstanding documents it had on the Afghan war.
Amid news reports that WikiLeaks plans to soon release about 15,000 documents it had held back last month, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell repeated a U.S. demand for the whistleblower site to expunge all classified material from the Internet and return the material it had to the U.S. government.
WikiLeaks caused uproar when it published more than 70,000 documents last month, at a time when U.S. public and congressional support for the nine-year war in Afghanistan is flagging.
International organizations including Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group have appealed to WikiLeaks to censor the names of Afghans who have worked with government or foreign forces in Afghanistan and would therefore be targets of retaliation by militants.
The media freedom group Reporters Without Borders said WikiLeaks is showing "incredible irresponsibility" in posting the documents.
compiled from agency reports