The Guardian: Australian special forces soldiers incensed at war crimes inquiry clearing commanders of blame

Anger at decision to strip meritorious conduct citation from entire Afghanistan task group as veterans say responsibility should go ‘right up to the top’

Rory Callinan and Christopher KnausSat 21 Nov 2020 06.00 AEDT

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‘Australia left them to die’

Heston Russell, who deployed to Afghanistan four times with the commando regiment and his since founded the veterans advocacy group, Voice of a Veteran, said the stripping of the meritorious unit citation was “absolute rubbish” and did not accord with Campbell’s public statements.

Campbell on Thursday was at pains to point out that the vast majority of those who served in Afghanistan were above reproach, yet still stripped all special forces of the citation.

“The chief of the defence force on the one hand finally acknowledges all of the great work special forces have done, and acknowledged this is the few, not the many,” Russell said.

“And at the same time, he reprimands the many … he’s the one who’s actually making the biggest damage to the reputation by removing this.”’We expected better from Australia’: shock and anger in Afghanistan at war crimes reportRead more

He said more Afghans had died due to the political decision to leave Afghanistan, without any proper protections in place for interpreters and others who had worked with Australian troops.

Russell questioned why no investigation had occurred into the decisions to led to that terrible outcome.

“There was no Afghan partner force that we worked with involved in this inquiry, because they’re all dead. Where’s the investigation into that strategy?” he said.

“That’s the shit that’s weighing on my guys’ heads. They deployed three, four, five times, partnering with the same guys, meeting their new children when they went over there. Helping them put visas through that never got approved.”

“They were executed by the enemy we were fighting when we left. Australia left them to die.”

• In Australia, support and counselling for veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms on 1800 011 046 or www.openarms.gov.au and Safe Zone Support on 1800 142 072 or https://www.openarms.gov.au/safe-zone-support