Australia Admits Troops Killed Civilians in Afghanistan

Date: 20 November 2020 - 19:45

News ID: ۸۵۰۱۳

SYDNEY (Dispatches) – Australian military personnel who spoke out against war crimes in Afghanistan said on Friday they felt vindicated by an inquiry which called for possible prosecution of troops, as the country reacted with shame and anger at the findings’ severity.
A report published on Thursday found Australian special forces killed 39 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan, with senior commandos forcing junior soldiers to kill defenseless captives in order to "blood” them for combat.
The report recommended referring 19 current and former soldiers for potential prosecution, in a development that prompted anguish in Australia.
David McBride, a former military lawyer facing charges of leaking information about special forces actions in Afghanistan, felt "buoyed” by the report after years of being treated like a "traitor to the diggers”, his lawyer Mark Davis told Reuters, using the Australian slang for soldiers.
"If the accusations that he’s previously made are proven right, he will feel vindicated whatever the penalty,” Davis said by telephone. "His reputation will be intact and his sense of honor will be intact.”
McBride has confirmed giving classified documents to the Australian Broadcasting Corp, triggering charges against him and an investigation into the public broadcaster which sensationally led to a raid on its Sydney headquarters last year.
Angus Campbell, Australia’s chief of the Defense Force, said during a press conference in Canberra on Thursday that a "destructive” culture of impunity among the elite troops had led to a string of murders and cover-ups by 25 Special Forces personnel in 23 separate incidents.
"Some patrols took the law into their own hands, rules were broken, stories concocted, lies told, and prisoners killed,” Campbell said.
"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 practice known as ‘blooding,’” the top Australian military official said.
The heavily-redacted 465-page report explained that once a person had been killed, those responsible would stage a fight scene by placing weapons next to the bodies of the deceased to give the impression that they had posed a military threat.
Campbell said the killings took place "outside the heat of battle” and recommended that the culprits be referred to Australian Federal Police and compensation be paid to the victims’ families.
The Australian government had previously spent years trying to gag whistle-blowers or dismiss reports of wrongdoings by the country’s military personnel.
Australia, which is not a member of NATO, has had an active role in Afghanistan since the U.S., along with a number of its allies, invaded the country in 2001. That war and the subsequent occupation continue to this day, even as Australian combat troops have reportedly been pulled out.