‘Disgraceful’ conduct by an Australian unit in Afghanistan
The Australian military on Thursday released the findings of a groundbreaking four-year inquiry into the actions of the 2nd Squadron of the Army’s Special Air Service Regiment on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Calling out “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history,” the report paints a brutal picture of the elite special forces unit, which rewarded the killing of civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan and covered them up. The inquiry found that 39 Afghans had been unlawfully killed in the period studied, from 2005 to 2016.
While the report stops short of calling the killings war crimes, it represents the first time that a member of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has so publicly accused its own troops of wrongdoing on such a scale.
Details: Commanders ordered junior soldiers to execute prisoners so they could record their first “kill.” Adolescents, farmers and other noncombatants were shot dead in circumstances clearly outside the heat of battle. Superior officers created such a godlike aura around themselves that troops dared not question them.
Next steps: The report calls for the criminal investigation of 19 soldiers. Australia’s military chief said he would disband the unit.
The New York Times
Me; The leader of the unit got a Victoria Cross in 1995 apparently.