Fact check
From Mr Andrew Gilligan Sir: Stephen Glover's famously exhaustive fact-checking procedures have unfortunately failed him in my case. He claims (Media studies, 17 November) that 'on Monday of this week Andrew Gilligan was telling listeners to Radio Four's Today programme that claims by the Northern Alliance that they held 40 per cent of Afghanistan were widely exaggerated'. The Northern Alliance was actually claiming on the crucial Monday morning that it held half of Afghanistan. At that time, as I correctly pointed out, this was a considerable exaggeration. They didn't take Herat and the western provinces until later on the Monday; they didn't take Bamian, Nirnruz or Kabul until Tuesday, and, at the time of writing (16 November), they still haven't taken Konduz. On that Monday morning their actual holdings amounted to about 30 per cent of the country. The Northern Alliance has had a very good ten days, but Stephen Glover is wrong to suggest that we should take all its claims at face value.
Andrew Gilligan
BBC Today Programme, Television Centre, London W12
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