Washington, January 31 (RHC)-- The U.S. government’s top watchdog on Afghanistan says the Pentagon has restricted the release of critical information about the U.S. War in Afghanistan. 

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has been publishing quarterly reports for years.  But this week, for the first time, information about troop levels and the amount of territory controlled by the Taliban was withheld from the public report under demands from the Pentagon. 

U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on the ongoing U.S. War in Afghanistan and rejected the idea of peace talks with the Taliban, following a wave of violence in the capital, Kabul, in recent days.  He said negotiations with the Taliban were off the table and threatened to -- in his words -- "finish what we have to finish.” 

Over the weekend, the Taliban detonated an ambulance packed with explosives in the heart of Kabul, killing at least 103 people and wounding as many as 235.