Text/Shinoda
Previously, Australian soldiers were exposed to the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, and under the pressure of public opinion, the Australian Ministry of Defense was forced to apologize and launch an investigation. However, the matter is not over, first, the soldiers involved in the killing have not been punished, and second, more Australian troops' crimes have been exposed.
According to the Global Times quoted Australian media reports, a few days ago, an Australian special forces soldier testified in court that Ben Roberts-Smith, a veteran who served in the Australian Army Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), used "lynching" to headshot an Afghan teenager. According to the special forces soldier, who is pseudonymous as "No. 16 man", when the Australian soldier arrived at the mission area by helicopter, intercepted a Toyota car, there were 4 people in the car, and the Australian soldiers detained 2 of them, including an Afghan teenager who was about a teenager, slightly fat, and his whole body was trembling. Later, Australian soldiers interrogated 2 people on the grounds that "improvised bombs" were found on the vehicle, and Roberts Smith, who was in charge of the matter, reported on the radio that "Two EKIA", presumably meaning that the 2 people were killed.
After the operation, when the witness met Roberts Smith and asked about the Afghan teenager, he bluntly said that his comrades advised him not to kill anyone, but he pulled out a pistol and fired a shot at the teenager's head, blowing the teenager's head. Roberts-Smith also boasted that it was the "most wonderful" thing he had ever seen in his life. It is reported that the photo seen by the witness in court is that the Afghan teenager seems to be holding a gun in his hand when he died, but the Australian soldier did not see the teenager carrying any weapons when he stopped the vehicle.
The witness revealed that he was aware of Roberts-Smith's indiscriminate killing of innocents, but was afraid to bring charges because the other side was "extremely prestigious" in the Australian army and he feared reprisals. Witnesses also said that some people in sass gradually recognized Roberts Smith's belligerent, bloody, bullying face. Roberts Smith denied a series of allegations, and he also countered several Australian media outlets for exposing his crimes for "defamation.".
According to previous allegations, Australian soldiers will shoot civilians to "practice their hands", and when taking photos and submitting reports, they will place pistols, radios, etc. next to the corpses to "wash" themselves. In addition, Australian soldiers have brutally cut the throats of two Afghan teenagers and thrown them into the river. The Australian Ministry of Defence conducted a protracted investigation, and they eventually concluded that 25 Australian soldiers were suspected of killing, mainly from special forces, and that a total of 39 Afghan civilians had been killed.
It is worth mentioning that although Australia has published the investigation report, they have been deliberately delaying the punishment of the perpetrators and have been slow to reach an agreement with the victims on the issue of compensation. Overall, the Australian Department of Defense was lenient about the soldiers' behavior, and they were initially reluctant to even admit the crime, which is probably why Roberts Smith is so rampant. Today, the United States and Australia have ended their military presence in Afghanistan, but the heinous crimes they have committed in Afghanistan cannot be ignored or forgotten, and the international community should jointly call for a detailed investigation and make the perpetrators pay a price.