Australia Strips Medals from Military Commanders over Afghanistan War Crime Allegations

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
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Australia Strips Medals from Military Commanders over Afghanistan War Crime Allegations

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Several serving and former Australian military commanders have been stripped of medals over allegations of war crimes committed during the Afghanistan war, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday.
Holding commanders to account for alleged misconduct of Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016 was recommended by Maj. Gen. Paul Brereton in his war crime investigation. Brereton found that around 25 Australian Special Air Service Regiment and Commando Regiment troops were involved in the unlawful killings of 39 Afghans.
“The allegations which are the subject of the Brereton Report are arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history,” Marles told Parliament.
Marles wrote to commanders of those troops about medals they had received for their service during the periods war crimes allegedly occurred. He did not specify to Parliament how many he had written to or identify their ranks, citing privacy concerns, The Associated Press reported.
The removal of medals was condemned by Australian Special Air Service Association chair Martin Hamilton-Smith as a betrayal of the courage and sacrifice of soldiers in Afghanistan.
"The government’s decision overlooks the courageous leadership of these young officers on the battlefield based on unproven allegations that somewhere in a remote village unseen and unknown to these commanders, an unlawful act might have occurred on their watch," Hamilton-Smith said in a statement.
Marles later explained the medals weren’t stripped because of the officers’ wrongdoing.
“No one is ... suggesting they knew what happened, were aware of it or didn’t act — that’s not the issue,” Marles told reporters.
“But the issue is that when you command a unit, you will receive often the benefits and the accolades of what that unit does irrespective of whether you’ve personally been right there in the front line and commensurately, you accept the responsibility of that unit in terms of what failings occur,” Marles said. “Had we known what had occurred, would the medals have been granted?”
No Australian veteran has been convicted of a war crime in Afghanistan. But a whistleblower and former army lawyer, David McBride, was sentenced in May to almost six years in jail for leaking to the media classified information that exposed allegations of Australian war crimes.
In 2023, former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz became the first of these veterans to be charged with a war crime. He is accused of shooting dead a noncombatant in a wheat field in Uruzgan province in 2012.
Also last year, a civil court found Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith likely unlawfully killed four Afghans when he was an SAS corporal. He has not been criminally charged.



UN Names Former British Diplomat Tom Fletcher to Lead Aid Efforts

Fletcher replaces Martin Griffiths, who stepped down at the end of June for health reasons.
Fletcher replaces Martin Griffiths, who stepped down at the end of June for health reasons.
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UN Names Former British Diplomat Tom Fletcher to Lead Aid Efforts

Fletcher replaces Martin Griffiths, who stepped down at the end of June for health reasons.
Fletcher replaces Martin Griffiths, who stepped down at the end of June for health reasons.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed former British diplomat Tom Fletcher as the new aid chief for the world body amid worsening humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip, Sudan and elsewhere, largely driven by conflict.

Fletcher replaces Martin Griffiths, who stepped down at the end of June for health reasons.

Fletcher - who is currently the principal of Hertford College, Oxford - was the British ambassador to Lebanon from 2011-2015 and served as the foreign and development policy adviser to three British prime ministers between 2007-2011, the UN said in a statement.

He "has strong experience of leading and transforming organizations and bringing an understanding of diplomacy at the highest levels," the UN said.

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said he did not know when Fletcher would take up the role.

The announcement comes as UN efforts to tackle humanitarian needs around the world are significantly underfunded.

The UN has appealed for $49 billion in 2024 to help 187.6 million of the people in need across 73 countries. But the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which Fletcher will lead, said on Wednesday that so far it has only received $16.21 billion.