Special forces chief knew UK soldiers were executing Afghans but covered it up, whistleblower claims

The head of the UK’s special forces (UKSF) knew soldiers were likely committing war crimes in Afghanistan but failed to act and carried out a “fake exercise” to cover it up, new testimony has revealed.

One of the British Army’s most senior special forces officers has told the Afghan war crimes inquiry that he first raised concerns in February 2011 that Afghans were being unlawfully killed and stories were being made up to hide the deaths.

In a new set of documents released by the inquiry, the senior officer, known only as N1466, said he tried to mobilize the special forces chief but instead the director conducted a “sham review” that did not get to the bottom of what was happening.

He told the independent inquiry in secret evidence hearings: “I will make it clear that we are talking about war crimes.”

N1466, who served as deputy chief of staff for operations at UKSF headquarters between 2010 and 2011, said he first became concerned about reports of Afghans being killed in operations around February 2011, when the deaths did not correspond to the number of weapons recovered.

He was further concerned by reports of Afghans dying in custody after trying in vain attempts to attack their captors, but said some of the statements were “so implausible as to be laughable”.

He explained his shock when he was shown photographs of dead Afghans showing people shot in the head by military police, even though the official account of the incident said they were caught in the crossfire.

He told the inquiry: “If we had done this right, we could have stopped it in February 2011… I’m trying to argue the case with the director, who in my view made a conscious decision that he was going to suppress it, cover it up and do a little fake exercise to make it look like he had done something, it’s a farce.”

The whistleblower said that in early 2011 he came to the view that the army’s Special Investigations Unit should launch a criminal investigation, but the UKSF in-house lawyer did not give clear legal advice to that effect.

He said the alarming pattern of deaths was made clear to the special forces director, who was “clearly aware in February that things were going wrong”.

He accused the manager of controlling information about the alleged murders “in a way that, in my opinion, indicates a desire to keep a low profile.”

He described the director as “a talented, intelligent and intelligent person who knows exactly what he is up to.” But instead of reporting the incidents to the police or launching a full investigation, the director commissioned a review of the Afghan practice of bringing in soldiers to search a house after clearing it, the investigation found.

N1466 said the review “seems to me to be completely missing the point, or not necessarily accidentally missing the point.”

N1466 made an extraordinary appeal to other members of the special forces community to come forward and speak out, telling the inquiry: “It’s time to decide what you stand for.”

“We didn’t join the UKSF because of this type of behaviour… toddlers being shot or killed randomly in their beds. It’s not private, it’s not for the elite, it’s not what we stand for and I don’t believe most of us would want to either condone it or cover it up.”

“It’s not about sticking with your organization and watching it go down the drain,” he said.

N1466 said Afghan partner units began withdrawing their support for the UKSF in protest against crimes they believed were being committed. This situation occurred for a short time in 2011, but became more permanent in 2013.

In one incident revealed to the inquest, a soldier from the Afghan Joint Unit, returning from a joint operation with Special Forces Unit 1, pulled out a grenade and threatened to pull it away because he was so unhappy with what he had just witnessed.

In another case recalled by N1466, an Afghan burst into a room with his British special forces colleagues, pulled a gun from his holster and pointed at a UKSF member, saying something to the effect of “these men are all slaughtering our people”.

Referring to a photo of an Afghan killed by UK special forces, N1466 described the investigation: “The narrative quite clearly mentions ‘as they advanced towards the target area, two men were seen moving around the guesthouse. Yes, this character does not appear to be wandering around the guesthouse. He appears to be in bed. He has a blanket on and it certainly does not look like he is running around or attacking anyone with a grenade or about to attack anyone.”

“You don’t see many gunshot wounds other than bullets to the head,” he said, referring to photos from another incident. This did not coincide with the narrative in the operation reports. He told the investigation into other casualties: “No one can control the sustained fire of an AK47 and put a hole in everyone’s head… This is neither plausible nor correct.”

He said it didn’t make sense for individuals to be caught in the crossfire: “Why were they all shot in the head?… To me that just seemed really wrong, and it doesn’t matter how recently you went to the theater. It doesn’t make any difference. It’s wrong.”

He was again alarmed by photographs of another incident in which dead bodies were placed with guns parallel to the stocks, stating that “it is not right for me” if Afghans were killed in combat.

Documents released by the investigation included a summary of a conversation between N1466 and the Royal Military Police (RMP).

During an October 2018 interview, he told RMP of an incident where UKSF1 members sent to clear a compound found people hiding under mosquito nets in a room.

The document said: “They did not reveal themselves so UKSF1 fired into the net until there was no movement left.

“When the Internet came out, there were women and children. The incident was covered up and the person who fired the shots was allegedly given some kind of reward to make it look legitimate.”

The Afghanistan Inquiry has published summaries of closed hearings in which members of the special forces testified about murders allegedly committed in the war-torn country between 2010 and 2013.

The investigation continues.