Military commanders were stripped of their medals due to allegations of Afghan war crimes

A number of current and former Australian military commanders have been stripped of their medals after being accused of war crimes during the Afghanistan war, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Thursday.

The move follows the recommendations of a comprehensive investigation led by Major General Paul Brereton that uncovered serious misconduct by Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016.

Brereton's investigation found that about 25 members of Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment and Commando Regiment were involved in the extrajudicial killing of 39 Afghans.

“The allegations contained in the Brereton report are arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history,” Marles told the Australian Parliament.

He informed the commanders whose troops were involved in the alleged atrocities of the decision to revoke medals awarded during the period in question.

However, he did not provide any information on how many commanders were affected and what rank they had.

The decision sparked strong reactions in some circles. Martin Hamilton-Smith, chairman of the Australian Special Air Service Association, condemned the action as a betrayal of the soldiers' bravery.

In a statement, he said: “The government's decision overlooks the brave leadership of these young officers on the battlefield and bases its judgment on unsubstantiated allegations that an unlawful act may have taken place well outside their direct supervision.”

Marles later clarified that the medals had not been withdrawn due to any specific misconduct by the commanders.

He told reporters: “Nobody is claiming they knew about the incident or did not react. The problem is that as commanders they were responsible for the conduct of their units. They received praise when the units performed well and with that comes responsibility when mistakes are made.”

Opposition MP Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain who commanded troops in Afghanistan in 2013, said the military and political leadership must also be held accountable for the mistakes that led to these war crimes.

He told the House of Representatives: “I believe our troops have been let down by a lack of moral courage that has extended right up the chain of command to Canberra, including this House.”

He added: “Those in the chain of command who saw post-operational reports with death tolls and pictures of the dead had a duty to ask questions.”

Hastie, who did not receive a medal for his service in Afghanistan, was not among those stripped of his honors.

No Australian veteran has yet been convicted of war crimes in Afghanistan, but former army lawyer and whistleblower David McBride was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in May for leaking classified information that exposed allegations of those crimes.

In 2023, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz became the first veteran to be charged with a war crime after allegedly killing a non-combatant in Uruzgan province in 2012.

Last year, a civilian court also found that Australia's most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, probably unlawfully killed four Afghans while serving as a corporal in the SAS.

Although no criminal charges have been brought against Roberts-Smith, the case casts a shadow on the reputation of the Australian military.

This article contains reports from The Associated Press