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The army inspector general himself produced the heartbreaking 465-page official investigation into the events of 2005-2016 detailing dozens of killings “outside the heat of battle.”
This photograph from the brochure released by ISAF Regional Command (South) on May 29, 2011, shows a group of Special Forces carriers walking alongside Sergeant Brett Wood’s coffin as they lead him to the waiting C-130 aircraft. at the Tarin Kot airfield in Uruzgan, Afghanistan on May 28, 2011. Photo: AFP
CANBERRA – Australia’s elite special forces “illegally killed” 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners, including summary executions as part of initiation rituals, according to evidence from a fiery military investigation now referred to a special war crimes prosecutor. .
A multi-year internal investigation into military misconduct was released on Thursday, prompting the Australian Defense Forces chief to admit to a “destructive” culture of impunity among special forces that led to a string of alleged killings and cover-ups. that lasted for years.
“Some patrols took the law into their own hands, rules were broken, stories were made up, lies were told and prisoners were killed,” General Angus Campbell said, apologizing “sincerely and unreservedly” to the people of Afghanistan.
“This shameful record includes alleged cases in which new members of the patrol were forced to shoot a prisoner to achieve the first murder of that soldier, in a gruesome practice known as ‘bloodletting.’
The report also reported evidence that troops were involved in “body-count competitions” and covered up illegal killings by organizing skirmishes, planting weapons and retrospectively adding names to target lists.
The army inspector general himself produced the heartbreaking 465-page official investigation into the events of 2005-2016 detailing dozens of killings “outside the heat of battle.”
It recommended that 19 people be referred to the Australian Federal Police, compensation be paid to the families of the victims and that the army carry out a series of reforms.
Campbell went one step further, saying those involved had “tainted” his regiment, the armed forces and Australia, and would be referred to the office of the special investigator for war crimes.
He also moved to revoke the distinguished service medals awarded to special operations forces that served in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, more than 26,000 Australian soldiers were sent to Afghanistan to fight alongside US and allied forces against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups.
Australian combat troops officially left the country in 2013, but a number of often brutal accounts of the conduct of elite special forces units have emerged since then.
They range from reports of troops killing a six-year-old boy in a house raid, to a prisoner being shot dead to save space in a helicopter.
‘BRUTAL TRUTHS’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison tried to cushion the blow of the report, telling Australians last week to brace themselves for the “honest and brutal truths” contained in the heavily redacted document, which censors many highly infamous details.
Morrison also called his Afghan counterpart on Wednesday to foreshadow “some disturbing allegations” that the government was taking “very seriously.”
President Ashraf Ghani’s office said Morrison had “expressed his deepest regret for the misconduct.”
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called the actions detailed in the report “unforgivable” but recognized its publication as an “important step towards justice.”
Last week, Morrison announced the appointment of a special investigator to prosecute the alleged war crimes, a move designed to avoid any prosecution at the International Criminal Court.
The Taliban will “definitely” use the revelations to reaffirm calls “for foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan,” Srinjoy Bose, professor of international relations at the University of New South Wales, told AFP.
“I imagine that the Australian presence in Afghanistan, over the next few weeks and months, will receive further protection.”
The revelations are also a serious blow to the prestige of the country’s military, which is widely revered by Australians.
Its historic campaigns, from Gallipoli in World War I to Kokoda in Papua during World War II, have played a crucial role in fostering the country’s identity, independent of British colonial power.
“It speaks of a failure that is bigger and deeper than the soldiers involved in the atrocities,” said John Blaxland of the Australian National University, which has close ties to the security system.
“It speaks of an inadequate sense of perspective on what we were committing to do with our strengths and the circumstances they would face.”
The Australian government had spent years trying to suppress whistleblower reports of the alleged wrongdoing, and the police had even investigated the reporters involved in exposing those accounts.
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