A senior ex-British Army officer has told a public inquiry that UK special forces in Afghanistan most likely committed war crimes, and that the chain of command was widely aware yet failed to take meaningful action.
Kabul 24: The revelation came during an ongoing independent inquiry triggered by a 2022 BBC documentary which alleged that members of UK Special Forces (SAS and SBS) killed at least 54 people in suspicious circumstances during night raids between 2010 and 2013.
Former officers and Ministry of Defence officials have also testified that some troops were frustrated that detainees captured during intelligence-led operations were often released within days because the Afghan justice system lacked the capacity to process them.Inquiry chairman Sir Charles Haddon-Cave has stated that the probe will determine:whether there is credible evidence of extrajudicial killings,
whether previous investigations were properly conducted, and
whether any killings were deliberately concealed.
Despite multiple military police investigations over the years, the UK Ministry of Defence maintains that none produced sufficient evidence for criminal prosecution.
