Australia strips commanders' medals over Afghanistan war crime allegations

Several serving and former Australian military commanders have been stripped of medals over allegations of war crimes committed during the invasion of Afghanistan, Defence Minister Richard Marles has said.

Holding commanders to account for alleged misconduct of Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016 was recommended by Major General Paul Brereton in his war crime investigation.

Brereton found that around 25 Australian Special Air Service Regiment and Commando Regiment troops were involved in the unlawful killings of 39 Afghans.

“The allegations which are the subject of the Brereton Report are arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history,” Marles told Parliament on Thursday.

Marles wrote to commanders of those troops about medals they had received for their service during the periods war crimes allegedly occurred. He did not specify to Parliament how many he had written to or identify their ranks, citing privacy concerns.

The removal of medals was condemned by Australian Special Air Service Association chair Martin Hamilton-Smith as a betrayal of the courage and sacrifice of soldiers in Afghanistan.

"The government’s decision overlooks the courageous leadership of these young officers on the battlefield based on unproven allegations that somewhere in a remote village unseen and unknown to these commanders, an unlawful act might have occurred on their watch," Hamilton-Smith said in a statement.

Marles later explained the medals weren’t stripped because of the officers’ wrongdoing.

“No one is … suggesting they knew what happened, were aware of it or didn’t act — that’s not the issue,” Marles told reporters.

“But the issue is that when you command a unit, you will receive often the benefits and the accolades of what that unit does irrespective of whether you’ve personally been right there in the front line and commensurately, you accept the responsibility of that unit in terms of what failings occur,” Marles said.

“Had we known what had occurred, would the medals have been granted?”

Opposition lawmaker Andrew Hastie, who as an SAS captain commanded troops in Afghanistan in 2013, said Australian political leaders and the military hierarchy should also be held accountable for war crimes.

“I believe that our troops were let down by a lack of moral courage that went up the chain of command all the way to Canberra — including in this House,” Hastie said, referring to the House of Representatives.

Hastie was not decorated for his service in Afghanistan and so was not among those officers stripped of medals.

“I want to be clear: Those who are alleged to have shed innocent blood are alone responsible for that. I do not say this to absolve or condemn anyone,” Hastie said. “But those in the chain of command who saw the post-mission slide decks with the kill counts and pictures of dead individuals had an obligation to ask questions."

No Australian veteran has been convicted of a war crime in Afghanistan. But a whistleblower and former army lawyer, David McBride, was sentenced in May to almost six years in jail for leaking to the media classified information that exposed allegations of Australian war crimes.

In 2023, former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz became the first of these veterans to be charged with a war crime. He is accused of shooting dead a noncombatant in a wheat field in Uruzgan province in 2012.

Also last year, a civil court found Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith likely unlawfully killed four Afghans when he was an SAS corporal. He has not been criminally charged.