Australia joined Afghan war to influence domestic politics: Australian whistleblower

An Australian army lawyer who leaked documents about war crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan says the Canberra government’s real intention of joining the US-led war on the Asian country has been to influence domestic politics.

Speaking on Press TV’s The Communiqué program, David McBride, who leaked documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC, said the war on Afghanistan “looked like it was being run to win domestic elections rather [than] to actually make a difference in Afghanistan.”

McBride said he first noticed there was something wrong when he found out “that we didn’t tell the truth about anything, about small things as well as big things.”

The documents that McBride provided were used by the ABC to prepare a set of reports known as the Afghan Files, revealing unlawful killings of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian forces.

McBride has been charged with five offenses, including the alleged theft of Commonwealth property and the unauthorized disclosure of material to journalists. He is now facing several decades in prison for having exposed the war crimes.

Aussie war crimes in Afghanistan

Australia and the United Kingdom have both investigated their elite fighting force, the Special Air Service (SAS) for war crimes in Afghanistan.

Late last year, an Australian military investigation confirmed that Australian forces had murdered dozens of civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

The report, released by Major General Justice Paul Brereton, determined Australian special forces had murdered 39 civilians and prisoners, including children, in Afghanistan.

Australia later dismissed a number of troops suspected of having been witness to the killings or of having been dishonest in testifying.

Asked about the government response to the report, McBride said that Canberra rewarded “the perpetrators of the murder and gave them medals,” and that instead, he had been put on trial and was facing “a significant jail term.”

“And I think that the government finds that an uncomfortable fact,” he said.

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“The report, as you know, was only finished in late 2020, and it wasn’t a conviction of anybody, but simply a known criminal report, like an inquiry, which recommended… police look at those 39 murders, and if necessary, charge people,” he said, referring to the report prepared at the end of the military investigation.

Even so, he said, it was quite possible that Australia “won’t have a trial until 2030” in the case of the murders in Afghanistan.

When asked about Australia’s geopolitical standing, McBride said his country was “just doing whatever America wants.”

Australia, which is not a member of NATO, has had an active role in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country. Back in May, it sent an additional 30 troops to Afghanistan to join the NATO-led mission, bringing its total Afghan deployment to 300 troops.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan removed the Taliban militant group from power. However, violence continues to take a heavy toll in the country. The chaos has also paved the way for the Daesh terror group to gain a foothold in Afghanistan’s east.

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