Members of UK special forces gave evidence to the Afghanistan Inquiry in a series of closed hearings.
The director of UK special forces made a “conscious decision” to cover up potential war crimes in Afghanistan, an inquiry has been told.
The Afghanistan Inquiry has released summaries of closed hearings in which members of special forces (UKSF) have given evidence about alleged murders in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013.
A senior officer, known only to the probe as N1466, said he believed statistics from deliberate detention operations (DDOs), including the number of weapons found compared to enemies killed in action, “didn’t seem credible”, a view he believed was shared by the director of UK special forces (DSF).
N1466, who was the assistant chief of staff for operations in UKSF headquarters when he became concerned about the statistics in February 2011, accused the DSF of controlling the information about alleged murders “in a way that I think indicated a desire to keep it low profile”.
The senior officer said UKSF had “a lot of quite difficult interactions with the rest of Whitehall” after events in another country, meaning the DSF, who was given the cipher N1802 by the inquiry, controlled the information about Afghanistan in a “way which limited the spread of the damage outside the headquarters”.
He told the inquiry there was a failure on the DSF’s part to “ever talk about possible criminal activity”, and his focus was instead on the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by the sub-unit in question – with the DSF initiating a TTP review after a meeting with N1466 in April 2011.
In his witness statement, N1466 said: “I felt at the time that N1802 intended that the TTP review would have the effect of firing a warning shot across the bows of the sub-unit to encourage them to change their behaviour.
“I was sure at the time and I remain sure that N1802 knew what was happening on the ground.
“The speed of N1802’s response and the absence of any further mention or investigation of unlawful activity only fortified my belief that he was aware of what was going on.”
Counsel to the inquiry Oliver Glasgow KC asked N1466 why he had not raised concerns about the TTP review with the DSF.
The senior officer responded: “…Me trying to argue the case with the director, who has clearly in my view made a conscious decision that he is going to suppress this, cover this up and do a little fake exercise to make it look like he’s done something, that’s a charade.
“But it was obvious that it was a charade and it was obviously his attempt to do it in his way and send this warning shot and… at the time I thought that probably was going to stop things and it wasn’t the right way to deal with it, but it was his decision that he wanted to do it and there was no way that I was going to… be able to sort of change that perspective because he’d clearly come to that decision and so the order would stay simply without changing the outcome.”
Afghan families have accused UKSF of conducting a “campaign of murder” against civilians, while claiming senior officers and personnel at the Ministry of Defence “sought to prevent adequate investigation”.
N1466 told the inquiry about an incident in which an Afghan man burst into a meeting between a UKSF sub-unit and their Afghan partner unit before pointing a pistol at a senior UKSF officer and saying “these guys are all murdering our people”.
Concluding his evidence, N1466 said the alleged murders by members of UKSF in Afghanistan did not help conventional forces, adding that it was “a stain against their sacrifice and their service”.
No charges were brought under Operation Northmoor, a £10 million investigation set up in 2014 to examine allegations of executions by special forces, including those of children.
A further Royal Military Police investigation, codenamed Operation Cestro, resulted in three soldiers being referred to the Service Prosecuting Authority, but none of them were prosecuted.
Defence Secretary John Healey has written to special forces personnel recognising their professionalism and sacrifice and telling them the Government “has your back”, it is understood.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The Government is fully committed to supporting the independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan as it continues its work, and we are hugely grateful to all former and current defence employees who have so far given evidence.
“We also remain committed to providing the support that our special forces deserve, whilst maintaining the transparency and accountability that the British people rightly expect from their armed forces.
“It is appropriate that we await the outcome of the inquiry’s work before commenting further.”
The inquiry continues.
