Former Australian soldier charged for war crime committed in 2001 Afghan war

A former Australian soldier has been charged with war crimes for allegedly killing civilians during the Afghanistan crisis. According to Russian news outlet Russia Today, the indictment of the former Australian special forces soldier is the first indictment to be filed since a military investigation over the Afghan crisis was released back in 2020.

The investigation found that the Australian troops had murdered at least 39 Afghan civilians in the 2001 Afghan war. According to the Russian news outlet, the 41-year-old soldier was a part of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). The Australian veteran named Oliver Schulz was arrested on Monday in the state of New South Wales. 

“It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan,” the Australian Federal Police stated in a statement. This indictment marks the first war crime charge of murder against a current or a former Australian soldier in the country’s history.

If Schulz gets convicted for the charges he was accused of, then the Australian soldier could potentially face life imprisonment. The case against Schulz became even stronger, after 2020 ABC Australia released video footage in which Schulz can be seen shooting down an Afghan man in a wheatfield in Uruzgan.  

Australian troops broke the rules in Afghanistan

The Australian troops were deployed in Afghanistan after Canberra supported the US-led war effort in the conflict-stricken country in 2001, the repercussions of which are still prevalent in the now-Taliban ruled country. After the 2020 investigative report was released, the government of Australia formed a special investigative office in 2021 to investigate the war crimes in Afghanistan.

According to Russia Today, the investigative office found at least 19 current and former Australian troops who were possibly responsible for the persecution of Afghan prisoners and even civilians. After the report came out, the investigators attempted to file cases against the SAS along with the Australian commando regiment which was deployed in the country between 2005 and 2016.

“Rules were broken, stories concocted, lies told, prisoners killed, and once that rule was broken, so too was further restraint,” Australian Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell said in November 2020, as per the report by Russia Today.

The overall 2020 report came out after a four-year investigation and was released by Defence Force Inspector-General Paul Brereton. The report alleged that some of the commanders ordered their junior soldiers to “shoot an Afghan prisoner to achieve a first kill”. The report also highlighted several gross human rights violations during the war.