Afghan Files (Australia)

The Afghan Files are a set of Australian Defence Force documents about the operation of Australia's special forces in Afghanistan.[2] The documents were leaked to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) by David McBride,[3] upon which seven stories were published. The documents covered a wide range of topics, however most notably it detailed multiple cases of unlawful killings of unarmed men and children.[2] In response to the leak, the Australian Federal Police raided the ABC's offices in June 2019,[4] confiscating all material related to the matter.[5]

ABC Ultimo Raid

Date	June 5, 2019 (2019-06-05)
Time	11:32am[1]
Duration	8:00:00
Location	700 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007
Coordinates	33.8821373°S 151.1973052°E / -33.8821373; 151.1973052
Type	Government raid
Cause	Afghan Files
Target	ABC Gaven Morris Dan Oakes Sam Clark
First reporter	Lorna Knowles

Issues covered

Problems with organisation culture

The documents raised concerns over the “organisational culture” including a “warrior culture”, with particular concern over “desensitisation” and “drift in values” among elite Special Air Service soldiers serving in Afghanistan.[2] Additionally, the documents alluded to a deep division between the two elite units that make up the majority of the special forces.

Unlawful killings

The documents contained at least 10 accounts of unlawful killings of unarmed men and children.[2] Two of the incidents, both occurring in September 2013 are currently under investigation by the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force.[6][2] These incidents involved the death of a man named Bismillah Azadi and his son Sadiqullah in an Australian raid in Uruzgan Province, when Bismillah allegedly pointed a pistol at SAS troopers. Contrary to the soldier's reports, police found Bismillah and Sadiqullah in bed beside each other the next day, apparently killed while asleep.[6] The documents also contained a report of a detainee alone with a soldier being shot after allegedly trying to seize a weapon.[2] Later in 2013 after these incidents, Australian troops allegedly killed an Afghan motorcyclist, and injuring his female passenger. This incident sparked agitation from the Afghan authorities, who threatened to stop working with Australia unless the killing of unarmed civilians ceased.[2]

Severed hands incident

The files provided insight into the response of the ADF over, and background of an incident in which an SAS soldier severed the hands of an Afghan insurgent.[7] Preceding the event, the special forces were searching for an Australian National Priority Target codenamed "Objective Rapier", a senior insurgent commander responsible for numerous attacks.[8] Helicopters and over 120 troops were involved in the search.[8] During a fight in the Zabul Province, four insurgents were killed. An SAS Corporal searched the bodies, and then severed a single hand of each of the insurgents with a scalpel.[8] Troops are required to gather fingerprints and eye scans of every Taliban member killed, if it is possible to do so.[9] Mutilation of the dead, however, is a violation of the laws of war.[10] Captain Andrew Hastie, disturbed by the event, reported the incident up the chain of command.[8] Members of the troop pointed blame to an official training session held just nine days prior, in which two experts explicitly sanctioned the removal of hands.[8]

Government Raid and Investigation

On 5 June 2019, the AFP raided the Sydney based headquarters of the ABC over a period of eight hours,[4] reportedly over the Afghan Files.[11] Another agency, likely ASIO or ASD, was also present.[12] During the raid, lawyers representing the ABC were forced to interpret the warrant and work with the AFP to ensure privileged information not under the purview of the warrant was not released.[5][4] The raid was immediately met with wide public criticism,[13] and an FOI request into the incident revealed that the AFP were intentionally targeting journalists, and that prosecution of journalists involved was considered.[11] Following the raid the ABC began litigation against the AFP, claiming the warrant was too broad and thus not enforceable.[14][15] In February 2020 the case was dismissed by the federal court,[16] and the AFP began the process of accessing the confiscated files while the ABC rushed to get an injunction.[17]

In June 2020, the AFP sent a brief of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the federal public prosecutor, recommending charges be laid against journalist Dan Oakes for breaking the Afghan Files story. The C'wealth DPP will decide whether to file charges and prosecute. As this is such a high profile case, prosecution will require final approval from the Attorney General of Australia, Christian Porter.[18]

References

1. Back, Lucy Cormack, Fergus Hunter, Alexandra (2019-06-05). "Australian Federal Police raid ABC headquarters at Sydney's Ultimo". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
2. Oakes, the National Reporting Team's Dan; Clark, Sam (2017-07-11). "Afghan Files expose deadly secrets of Australia's special forces". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
3. "Afghan Files military whistleblower David McBride back before ACT court". SBS News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
4. Knowles, Lorna; Worthington, Elise; Blumer, Clare; Investigations, A. B. C. (2019-06-05). "Police leave ABC headquarters with files after hours-long raid over special forces stories". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
5. Lyons, John (2019-06-04). "ABC lawyers and AFP officers hover over a computer as they work out what comes within the terms of the warrant. At the end of the table, on the right, are the AFP digital forensics people.pic.twitter.com/gORbGB4a9l". @TheLyonsDen. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
6. Oakes, the National Reporting Team's Dan; Clark, Sam (2017-07-10). "Australian soldiers accused of covering up killing of Afghan boy". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
7. Brissenden, national defence correspondent Michael (2013-08-30). "Claims Australian troops cut off insurgent's hands". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
8. Oakes, the National Reporting Team's Dan; Clark, Sam (2017-07-11). "'What the f*** are you doing': Chaos over severed hands". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
9. Martienssen, Thomas (2014-11-26). "Left to the mercy of the Taliban". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
10. "Customary IHL - Rule 113. Treatment of the Dead". ihl-databases.icrc.org. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
11. Knowles, Lorna; Investigations, A. B. C. (2019-06-24). "AFP's warrant allowed officers to record fingerprints during ABC raids". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
12. Lyons, ABC News executive editor John (2019-08-06). "Secretive government agency linked to AFP raid on ABC, documents show". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
13. "'Attack on public's right to know': Critics slam AFP raids on ABC Sydney offices". SBS News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
14. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "ABC sues Australian police force after newsroom raid | DW | 24.06.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
15. McKinnell, Jamie (2019-08-02). "ABC challenge to 'legally unreasonable' AFP raids hits court". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
16. "'A blow to democracy': Federal Court dismisses ABC case against AFP raids". SBS News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
17. Whitbourn, Michaela (2020-02-24). "'Very unhelpful and uncooperative': ABC and AFP face off in court". The Age. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
18. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-02/federal-police-seek-charges-abc-investigation-afghan-files-dpp/12415930