Wikileaks released last Sunday over 90,000 military documents covering US and NATO actions in Afghanistan from 2004 up to 2009. It is a dump and for us here at Popular Airsoft making sense of it all would entail more time, resources and the even more important expert resources as we are no experts in these matters. So the first thing we've done is scour the web for media sources but eventually settled with the three media organisations that Wikileaks entrusted the documents for them to go over before the documents get officially released online.

All three media organisations, the New York Times (US), Guardian (UK), and Der Spiegel (Germany), all point to one thing: the Afghan War is a quagmire for the world's mightiest armies aiming to help an impoverished country get back on its feet. But it comes as no surprise, for centuries the Afghans have broken the backs of mighty empires, with the Soviet Union the last military power that turned around, unable to break the will of the mujaheedins.

The Al Qaeda have been defeated, but the Taliban, while routed early on, have been brazen and daring to take back the country. The three media groups confirm what has been sporadically reported in the news of civilian deaths, of Pakistan's Intelligence Service (ISI) support to the Taliban, and the corruption of those in the Afghan government. Some speculate that while the Taliban are gaining some ground, they have no plans to bring Al Qaeda back with them. The trouble of giving safe harbor to Bin Laden and his operatives in their country is not worth it.

If Al Qaeda has already been defeated in Afghanistan, then why continue the battle against the Taliban? Why not just allow the Afghans run the country and settle with the Taliban rather than spending billions of dollars in military operations against an enemy that would still remain even after the US and NATO forces have left?  There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet, even with Obama's surge. They will be stuck in a war that has already taken longer to bring to conclusion than the Vietnam War. And they are funding an ally who double deals due to its paranoia of India's influence in Afghanistan through the Northern Alliance.

Apart from the geopolitical issues, there are documentation of war crimes as civilian deaths mount through poor intelligence and just plain disregard for non-combatants on the part of the US and its allies and that these were covered up. At the end of the day, it's the non-combatants who suffer most.

War is ugly, that is a fact. While we airsoft players play with scenarios based on some news reports in the War on Terror, fantasizing and romanticzing that we are catching or shooting some terrorists and saving the day, we should always take time to read about information on the wars that we role play about and not just about the gears and guns that we want to use for our games. Unsanitized information gives us the opportunity to think critically and for us to make our own conclusions whether our governmens' actions were for the greater safety of their citizens, or a misguided attempt to impose their will on unwilling peoples.

You decide, do Wikileaks compromise our national security or have done us a great service by exposing information in its untainted form? Thousands of combatants, from the brave soldiers of the US and its allies who have laid down their lives following orders and saving their fellow soldiers, and the insurgents who want to take back their country, however incompatible their belief systems are with ours. It's time to take step back and give critical thought to a war that might just be unwinnable.

Please take time to read the following:

• Guardian - Aghanistan: The War Logs
• New York Times - The War Logs
• Spiegel Online - The Afghanistan Protocol: Explosive Leaks Provide Image of War from those Fighting it