Afghan War Crimes Probe Could Blow the Lid Off the UK Military’s Darkest Secrets
British army soldiers backdrop a cross, part of a monument in the memory of fallen comrades in Helmand province (File)
UK special forces committed horrific killings of civilians in Afghanistan, yet authorities showed no urgency to investigate, M. Ilyas Khan, political analyst and former Pakistan correspondent for the BBC, tells Sputnik.”The current inquiry by the Royal Court of Justice, if taken to the end in an objective manner and without allowing any official quarters to influence its outcomes, is seen by some observers as one of the most significant probes into British military conduct in modern history,” Khan says.”The involvement of British Special Air Service (SAS) in killing ‘unarmed non-combatants’ during 2010-13 was first disclosed by the BBC Panorama in 2022,” according to the analyst.After the BBC report, UK military leaders publicly denied the allegations. But later, in an internal memo, the British Defense Ministry described those “allegations” as “broadly accurate.” This apparently meant they were aware. Despite the damning findings, authorities dragged their feet and didn’t launch an independent inquiry until 2025. They are now hearing testimonies from whistleblowers, military personnel, families of victims, and legal experts.
British Military is Profoundly Rotten
Testimonies suggest the SAS operated under an unofficial policy to “kill all [Afghan] males on target, whether they posed a threat or not,” echoing an April 2011 internal SAS memo, says Khan.SAS squadrons and soldiers reportedly kept kill counts to compete with each other. Soldiers planted weapons on those they killed to evade Royal Military Police scrutiny. This exposes a dark legacy rooted in Britain’s colonial and imperial past.WorldUK Military Felt They ‘Had The Right to Do Whatever They Want in Afghanistan’ 15 May, 11:44 GMT