The inquest was advised the SAS had a golden move to get away with homicide

A former senior British particular forces officer has advised a public inquiry into alleged conflict crimes in Afghanistan that the SAS had a “golden opportunity to get away with murder”.

The allegations have been printed on Wednesday by the Afghanistan Inquiry as a part of the discharge of supplies summarizing seven closed hearings with members of the UK Special Forces.

The officer, a former operations chief of employees of the Special Boat Service (SBS) – the UK's naval particular forces – was one in every of a number of senior officers who registered issues in 2011 that the SAS was hanging up and overlaying them up.

In an electronic mail on the time, the officer wrote that the SAS and homicide have been “regular partners” and described the regiment's official account of operational killings as “quite unreliable”.

Asked in query throughout a closed listening to whether or not he stood by his declare that the SAS's actions amounted to homicide, the officer replied: “Indeed.”

Pressed by investigating counsel in 2011 about his choice to not report his issues additional into the collection, he stated he regretted his lack of motion on the time. He agreed that there had been a “huge failure of leadership” by Britain's particular forces.

The former SBS Operations Chief of Staff was one in every of a number of senior officers from the Royal Navy's Special Forces Regiment who gave proof to the inquiry behind closed doorways in 2024.

The investigation, which is analyzing evening raids by the UKSF between 2010 and 2013, follows years of reporting by BBC Panorama into allegations of homicide and a cover-up by the SAS.

Only the investigation staff and representatives of the Defense Ministry have been allowed to take part within the closed-door listening to. The public, members of the media and legal professionals of the bereaved households aren’t allowed to attend.

The materials launched Wednesday summarizes testimony from these hearings. Overall, the paperwork – a whole bunch of pages in complete – paint an image of the SAS's arrival in Afghanistan in 2009 and the way the SBS hunted down the Taliban.

Senior SBS officers advised the inquiry of deep issues that the SAS, recent from aggressive, high-tempo operations in Iraq, was being pushed by kill counts – the variety of lifeless they may get in every operation.

Another senior SBS officer who gave proof was requested whether or not he stood by his issues in 2011 that the SAS was finishing up extrajudicial killings.

“I thought and think that at least on some operations [the SAS] Was carrying out murders,” he said.

A junior SBS officer, who also gave evidence at an interrogation that took place behind closed doors, described an interaction in which a member of the SAS who had recently returned from Afghanistan held a pillow over someone's head before hitting him with a pistol. Told about being kept.

“I think what shocked me most was not the execution of potential Taliban members, which was certainly wrong and illegal, but it was the age and the methods and, you know, the details of things like pillows “, said the junior officer.

He clarified that some of those killed by the SAS were children, according to the conversations he released. When the investigating lawyer was asked if he meant that some of those killed would have been as young as 16, he replied: “Or 100% younger”.

The junior officer told the inquiry that he feared for his safety if his name would be linked to testimony that the SAS was allegedly killing civilians.

These SBS officers were part of a small group who were privately raising doubts about the authenticity of SAS operational reports coming out of Afghanistan in 2011.

In an email, one of the senior executives, who at the time held a post at SBS headquarters in Poole, wrote to a senior colleague: “If we don't believe it, no one else will and when the next WikiLeaks Then we will be dragged along with them.”

Having served with SBS operational units in Afghanistan before the arrival of the SAS, two senior officers were in a position to interpret the language in the regiment's reports while the naval unit took what appeared to be a back seat. Was forced to. Anti-narcotics operations instead of hunting the Taliban.

As well as believing that the SAS may have carried out the killings, he described in his emails what he saw as a cover-up in Afghanistan. The second officer told the inquiry chairman: “Basically, there appears to be a tradition of 'shut up, don't ask questions'.”

At the time, support staff in Afghanistan were skeptical of the SAS's accounts of their operations, and did not consider them credible.

But rather than taking the concerns seriously, a reprimand was issued “to make sure that employees officers help folks on the bottom”, another senior SBS official wrote.

He told the inquiry that in the eyes of the commanding officer of the special forces in Afghanistan, the SAS could do no wrong, and described the lack of accountability for the regiment as “astonishing”.

The documents released on Wednesday also revealed new details about an explosive meeting in Afghanistan in February 2011, during which the SAS's partner Afghan special forces angrily withdrew their support.

The meeting followed a growing rift between the SAS and Afghan special forces over what Afghans saw as unlawful killings by members of the SAS.

An Afghan officer present at the meeting became so angry that he reportedly reached for his pistol.

Describing the meeting in a recently released email, the SBS official wrote: “I’ve by no means had such a hostile assembly earlier than – precise shouting, hand waving and staring down 9mm barrels at one stage with me – it was all very disagreeable. “

Following intervention by senior members of the UKSF, Afghan units agreed to continue working with the SAS. But this would not be the last time he withdrew his support in protest.

“This is all very damaging,” the SBS executive said at the end of his email.

Additional reporting by Connor McCann