Australia is reacting with “shame and anger” to an official report that found their soldiers “allegedly killed 39 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan, with senior commandos forcing junior soldiers to kill defenceless captives in order to ‘blood’ them for combat,” Reuters reported on November 19, 2020.
The U.K.-based Daily Mail said, “The atrocities allegedly committed by Australian Special Air Service members were so heinous that more than 50 pages in Thursday’s report had to be redacted.”
The report followed a 4½-year inquiry into conduct by Aussie troops in Afghanistan between 2005 to 2016, and is being called “one of the darkest military chapters for Australia.” At least 19 soldiers could face prosecution. The nation’s military leaders condemned the atrocities, and its prime minister reportedly apologized to Afghanistan’s president.
A military lawyer who still faces charges for leaking classified documents to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., and other military personnel who blew the whistle, “said on Friday they felt vindicated.”