UK: Special Forces Probed for Afghan War Crimes

Facts

• Suspending its policy of neither confirming nor denying Special Force operations, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that the military's Special Forces are at the heart of a war crimes inquiry.¹
• Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, however, wants the identities of those involved in the probe — into the alleged summary executions of over 80 Afghan detainees between mid-2010 to mid-2013 — to be kept secret.²
• In response to these latest developments, a lawyer representing the victims' families argued that Wallace's partial admission risks discrediting this public inquiry and challenged his request to withhold the identities of all members of British Special Forces during the probe.³
• This comes as a two-day hearing at the Royals Court of Justice began on Wednesday to hear arguments from the MoD and the Royal Military Police for restriction orders to be placed over some evidence submitted to the inquiry.⁴
• This independent statutory inquiry into alleged unlawful activity by British military personnel in Afghanistan, which was commissioned last December, will also look at the effectiveness of follow-up investigations into any allegations.⁵
• Two Royal Military Police investigations, codenamed Operation Northmoor and Operation Cestro, are expected to be scrutinized as only three soldiers were referred to the Service Prosecuting Authority. None of them ended up facing prosecution.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Times, ³Guardian, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵The Telegraph, and ⁶Sky News.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Arab News. The British Special Forces have become a rogue criminal organization that killed dozens of innocent Afghans for years with impunity. The first inquiry into its illegal actions was completely inadequate and was deliberately planned to never get to the bottom of the heinous acts. While this agency may think it's above the law, the justice system must hold it accountable for war crimes.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Military Strategy Magazine. British Special Forces are among the world’s best military units, with state-of-the-art technology and specialized training that allow them to covertly neutralize terrorists around the globe and coordinate with allies. While some may criticize them, the Special Forces remain an invaluable asset to the UK military and play a pivotal role in British national security.