Australian elite forces involved in 39 unlawful killings, inquiry claims

An official inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by Australian special forces has found troops were involved in the unlawful killing of 39 civilians or prisoners amid a “warrior culture”.

Addressing a press conference overnight Thursday, after the findings were released, chief of the Australian Defense Forces General Angus Campbell “sincerely and unreservedly” apologized to the people of Afghanistan for the conduct of troops as noted in the report.

“It would have devastated the lives of Afghan families and communities, causing immeasurable pain and suffering,” he said.

Australia’s Defense Force is recommending that Australia’s Federal Police (AFP) should investigate 19 individuals from the Australian Special Forces over 36 alleged war crimes, including murder and cruel treatment of non-combatants in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013.

“Those alleged to have been unlawfully killed were … prisoners, farmers or other civilians. This shameful record includes alleged instances in which new patrol members were coerced to shoot a prisoner in order to achieve that soldier’s first kill, in an appalling process known as blooding,” Campbell said.

The report states there is “credible information” that weapons or handheld radios were sometimes allegedly placed near a body by Australian forces in order to portray that the person had been killed in action.

Campbell meanwhile stated he had accepted all of the inquiry’s 143 recommendations.

The inquiry was established in 2016 to investigate allegations that Australian special forces had breached the law of armed conflict in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison contacted Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani just hours before the release of the report overnight and expressed “his deepest sorrow” over the alleged misconduct of Australian troops in Afghanistan.

In a statement issued by the Afghan government, it stated: “(Morrison) assured the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan of the investigations and to ensuring justice.”

CNN meanwhile reported that according to Nishank Motwani, deputy director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul, the inquiry’s report was likely to leave Afghans feeling “a sense of despair, vindication and anger that foreign forces can so easily get away with cold-blooded murder.”

“The report will allow the Taliban to blame foreign forces for the suffering of Afghan civilians even though Taliban fighters are responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 civilians in the past decade,” he said, adding that any remaining Australian personnel in Afghanistan may be under threat of retaliation.