Aussies accused over drone killings

Australian and British troops in the Hellmand province. Photo / Getty Images

Australian Special Forces hunting Taleban leaders have been accused by Afghan civilians of killing innocent people under broader Coalition tactics that have drawn wide criticism.

The allegations, raised on ABC television's Four Corners programme last night, came as further criticisms were levelled against the Australians for identifying suspected insurgents for armed US drone aircraft - known as "Kill TV" for their video strikes.

Four Corners was told the Australians were being "manipulated" and fed false intelligence, allegedly in one case by a rival of a provincial police chief who assumed the job when the man was killed.

The son of slain Rozi Khan, also the first democratically elected leader of Uruzgan province, said his father's death had encouraged many of his tribesmen to join the insurgency.

"People hated the Australians because they have killed our leader, who was not only a tribal leader but was our commander during the jihad," Daoud Mohammed said.

"People say if they had destroyed the whole province of Uruzgan we would have not suffered as much."

In a separate report, Fairfax newspapers said yesterday that Australia's Special Forces commander, Major General Peter "Gus" Gilmore, had confirmed that his senior officers had used missiles fired from unmanned United States aircraft to kill insurgents.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the drone strikes were dubbed "Kill TV" or "Taleban TV" because soldiers watched live video feeds of bombs and missiles detonating, with one source admitting it was uncomfortable viewing: "You can see everything."

The Australian Defence Force defended their use, saying it complied with international law and the employment of exhaustive intelligence helped to avoid civilian casualties.

But the Afghan Government and other critics have raised concerns over the drones, which allow an enemy no chance to surrender.

The operations of Australia's 300-strong Special Operations Task Group, which includes SAS and commando units, have come under increasing scrutiny as the US-led surge against the Taleban has boosted "capture or kill" tracking of individual insurgent leaders.

Although operating mainly in Uruzgan Province, the Australians also work with American, British and other special forces in adjoining provinces, including Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Daykundi.

They aim to decapitate the Taleban by targeting its leaders, disrupting their operations and increasing pressure on the insurgents to negotiate a stable political settlement.

Within Uruzgan, the Australians say Special Forces operations have boosted the presence of the Afghan police in remote areas, reduced the threat to the training of the Afghan National Army's 4th Brigade and increased reconstruction efforts.

This year more than 20 insurgent leaders have been captured or killed in Uruzgan, including Chora district Taleban shadow governor Mullan Gul Akhund, prominent bomb-makers Shah Mamood and Mullah Mohammed Rahim, and fellow commanders Mullah Ghulam and Mullah Gharfour.

Many other insurgents have been killed in operations that also netted large caches of drugs and weapons.

But civilians have died.

Three soldiers were charged over the deaths of six civilians, including five children, in a special forces raid on a suspected Taleban compound in 2009, but court martial proceedings were later dropped after "legal processes ... independent of the chain of command".

An earlier inquiry cleared Australians of involvement in the shooting of a car in which one man was killed, his wife blinded and four children were injured, and another rejected claims that four men killed as Taleban bomb-layers were local farmers.

But Afghanis interviewed by Four Corners said they had lost innocent family members and friends to Australian operations - including Rozi Khan - and that the tactics were pushing many to join the insurgency.

"If they force their way in and attack us during the night, people are not going to accept it," one, identified as Abdul, told the programme. "They'll have to either run away or have to take their arms and fight to the last."

The Australian Defence Force said its tactics were appropriate and were constantly reviewed to try to minimise the loss of life and impact on Afghan civilians.

It also rejected any suggestion Rozi Khan's death was the result of false intelligence.

A Special Forces commander who could not be identified said they did get the right targets and had killed dozens of Taleban leaders "so it is actually targeting those individuals that will have the most effect on disrupting the insurgency - that becomes very, very important to us".

But Afghanistan analyst Michael Semple told Four Corners that the kill or capture strategy was missing national leaders and was hitting only local commanders who were rapidly replaced.

And Britain's former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, said the tactics were "profoundly wrong" and reminiscent of the Vietnam War.

"[Former US commander General David Petraeus] has increased the violence, trebled the number of special forces raids by British, American, Dutch and Australian special forces going out killing Taleban commanders, and there has been a lot more rather regrettable boasting from the military about the body count," he told Britain's Guardian newspaper this year.