This Is How Britain Covered up War Crimes Committed by Its Special Forces in Afghanistan

In a startling disclosure, a high-ranking officer from the British Army’s elite Special Forces has come forward with allegations that members of the Special Air Service (SAS) have been involved in the unlawful killing of detainees during operations in Afghanistan.

The officer, who played a pivotal role in overseeing SAS missions, has reported to the Royal Military Police that a malignant influence had taken hold within a particular SAS unit, leading to the execution of numerous unarmed captives.

Despite concerns for his family’s safety, the officer submitted a report, suggesting that the severity of the transgressions warranted a thorough reevaluation of the squadron’s conduct.

Under the alias N.1466, he provided investigators with the whereabouts of a safe containing a document that detailed confessions by an SAS operative, admitting to the systematic execution of Afghan detainees within their residences and subsequent planting of weapons to fabricate evidence of their guilt.

This revelation, which has prompted one of the most extensive murder inquiries in the United Kingdom, is now brought to light through the release of over 6,000 classified documents by the Ministry of Defense.

Non-Disclosing Crimes

Correspondence uncovered in the investigation indicates that several high-ranking Special Forces officials were aware of the war crimes but chose not to report them.

The cache of documents includes testimonies from five British soldiers, accounts from SAS leaders, emails alerting officials at Downing Street to the killings, and memoirs from police investigators.

Further examination of internal communications among those probing the SAS’s actions reveals that the investigations were prematurely terminated following notification to Downing Street, during the tenure of then-Prime Minister David Cameron, who currently serves as Foreign Secretary.

One particular email highlights the chief police investigator’s grievances over “political pressure” to abandon inquiries into senior SAS figures.

Diaries belonging to police investigators also shed light on the disposal of weapons used to incriminate victims, the erasure of top-secret files related to SAS operations, and the abrupt cessation of plans to apprehend two principal suspects.

When the investigation was ultimately concluded, correspondence indicated that the Veterans' Minister, Johnny Mercer, himself an Afghan war veteran, believed the SAS to be culpable of misconduct and felt the allegations were not adequately pursued.

However, his remarks were subsequently softened in the official record, with a government official suggesting a more amiable approach.

Previously, in 2017, The Sunday Times had reported on the alleged misconduct of an SAS unit accused of killing unarmed Afghan civilians and falsifying mission reports.

At that time, the veterans’ minister denied the existence of any supporting evidence, stating no arrests had been made and only one unlawful killing had been investigated in Afghanistan. These assertions have since been proven false.

Subsequent developments include a BBC Panorama documentary and a legal action initiated by the law firm Leigh Day on behalf of the families of the deceased, which led to the formation of an independent inquiry into the Afghanistan conflict, presided over by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave of the Court of Appeal.

The inquiry’s objective is to ascertain the veracity of claims that the British military unlawfully executed individuals in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013, to evaluate the thoroughness of military police investigations, and to determine if there were attempts to conceal war crimes.

Currently examining 80 cases of alleged murder, the inquiry commenced evidence collection in July, resulting in the exposure of previously confidential documents and extensive testimony from military personnel and government ministers.

These revelations have enabled The Sunday Times to chronicle the experiences of the SAS whistleblowers and the subsequent obstruction of the investigation into their claims.

Covering Up Crimes

N.1466, identified in Defense Department records, had a distinguished military career, ascending to the position of Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations to the Director of Special Forces, Major General Jacko Page, effectively ranking third in the Special Forces Directorate in London.

His primary duty was the oversight of all SAS operations globally, with a particular focus on Afghanistan during the period from 2009 to 2013 when special forces conducted a relentless series of night raids against suspected Taliban combatants.

The SAS’s mandate was to detain suspected insurgent leaders or bomb manufacturers, gather evidence of armed activities, and return them to base for detention and interrogation for up to 96 hours.

However, due to insufficient evidence, many detainees were subsequently released.

According to Captain Mike Martin, the Army’s inaugural cultural understanding officer in Afghanistan and a proficient Pushtu speaker, these arrest operations were often predicated on dubious intelligence, such as information provided by competing warlords.

Martin, who participated in confidential strategic meetings where the SAS designated targets, voiced repeated and serious concerns about the flawed intelligence that justified the raids, which frequently led to civilian casualties. 

It has been suggested that the SAS personnel, frustrated by the frequent release of detainees, resorted to executing their captives.

By February 2011, N.1466 and other senior leaders grew increasingly alarmed about the conduct of a specific SAS squadron that, during a six-month deployment in Afghanistan, reported a disproportionately high number of Afghan fatalities over captures in their post-mission summaries.

A complaint lodged by Afghan President Hamid Karzai pertained to one such fatality: the death of Muhammad Ibrahim, a civilian and former district governor, in Nowruz, Helmand province.

Ibrahim, who was collaborating with British forces and was not the intended target of the operation, was fatally shot by the SAS, who claimed he had reached for a grenade during a search of his residence.

This incident was one of several involving the squadron, and newly released Ministry of Defense documents indicate that N.1466’s concerns about the death toll were escalating, culminating in two additional incidents.

On the nights of February 7 and 9, the squadron fatally shot 17 individuals, including two children, in their homes across two raids, yet only seven weapons were recovered from the sites.

Given his responsibility for the SAS, N.1466 deemed the casualty figures to be disproportionate, reinforcing his belief that the unit was operating beyond the bounds of control.

An email from another concerned officer, a lieutenant colonel and director of Special Forces operations, was sent to Page’s chief of staff, signaling further unease within the ranks.

As the inquiry into the SAS’s actions progresses, the testimony of SAS witnesses under the veil of confidentiality has brought to light concerns over extrajudicial killings and cover-ups, suggesting a deep-seated issue within the ranks of the elite unit.

The unfolding narrative continues to challenge the boundaries of military conduct and the pursuit of justice.