All Fighting-Age Males Killed”: UK Special Forces Probed For War Crimes

New Delhi:

An inquiry into the actions of British special forces in Afghanistan has uncovered allegations of extrajudicial killings and efforts to cover up unlawful actions during the war. 

Testimonies and hundreds of documents released Wednesday reveal misconduct by elite soldiers operating in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013, with one former officer describing the British Army’s Special Air Service or SAS as having “a golden pass allowing them to get away with murder.”

The Afghanistan Inquiry, commissioned by the UK government’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2022, is investigating alleged war crimes by British armed forces during the Afghan conflict. The focus lies particularly on the actions of UK Special Forces (UKSF) units during night-time raids known as ‘deliberate detention operations’.

According to testimonies from seven UKSF personnel – given in secret due to national security concerns – troops carried out killings of unarmed Afghans, including individuals who posed no threat. One soldier, referred to as N1799 in the documents, testified that during some operations, “all fighting-age males were killed on target regardless of the threat they posed.” He recounted hearing that detainees were executed in compounds, sometimes using methods such as placing a pillow over a victim’s head before shooting them.