Report: Government misled public on Afghanistan war

The U.S. government during three administrations distorted data to conceal the grim situation on the ground in Afghanistan, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The newspaper sued and submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to access thousands of pages of interviews and reports from the special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

What did the documents reveal? The report says the government presented data in a way that suggested it was making progress in the 18-year war despite rising death tolls and other problems, including a shifting U.S. strategy and failure to tamp down Taliban insurgency. U.S. Army Col. Bob Crowley told government interviewers that “every data point was altered to present the best picture possible,” according to the report. The Pentagon released a statement on Monday saying it had “no intent” of misleading Congress or the American public.

Dig deeper: Read the Post’s report with links to some of the original documents.