Official US military data shows that almost 90 percent of the over 4,000 suspected Taliban captured by US forces in Afghanistan in the second half of 2010 were civilians who were released within days.
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 report indicates that even more detainees were released from the US detention facility at Bagram airbase, also known as the Detention Facility in Parwan, after their files were reviewed by a panel of military officers.
Although verification of the number of Taliban deaths claimed by the US is impossible, the number of detainees can be monitored, as detainees can only be held in a Forward Operating Base for 14 days before being released or sent to long-term detention.
The death toll of the US-led forces in 2010 stood at 711, making the year the deadliest on record for foreign forces in Afghanistan since 2001.
NATO has admitted that the power of militants in Afghanistan is on the rise despite the presence of nearly 150,000 US-led forces in the war-ravaged country.
