Isaf admitted Wednesday that it made a clerical error in reporting a seven-percent decrease in insurgent attacks in 2012, promising to release a corrected version of the report in due time.
"It is true that last year we had in our data bank that enemy-initiated attacks went down seven percent, but during a routine quality control check of our database, we found out that some of the data have been incorporated in the system incorrectly," said Isaf Spokesman General Gunter Katz.
There has been no decrease to insurgent attacks, Katz emphasized, and added that the error was first spotted by Isaf itself.
"We always try for transparency and accuracy, and that's why we decided to change the data, so we took the system down and incorporated the new data. And indeed, we found out that in terms of sheer numbers, the enemy initiated attacks were comparable to 2011," Katz said.
He emphasized that security across Afghanistan is increasing, especially in large population centers and urban areas. He said 80 percent of insurgent attacks are executed in areas where 20 percent of the people live.
"Take Kandahar district as one prominent example. Compared to 2011 we managed to decrease the attacks in Kandahar district by 63 percent and those are the corrected numbers. So that is a significant example in terms of how successfully we pressured the insurgency out of the cities and to areas that used to be safe havens and we continue to fight them in those remote areas," he said.
But Afghan analysts criticized the error and urged the international forces to be more precise in their reports. They also took issue with Isaf's position that security is improving.
"[Isaf] only wants to show that they are active and carry out their responsibilities properly, and show that they are confident about the situation. But the truth is hidden. The truth is that the attacks are increasing," said General Noorulhaq Oloomi, military affairs analyst.
"There are incidents taking place in Afghanistan on a daily basis," said General Noorulhaq Oloomi, military affairs analyst," he said.