The Afghanistan Inquiry has heard evidence that British special forces troops dropped prisoners from forklifts 'for fun' and behaved as if they were in 'Lord of the Flies', according to whistleblowers. The inquiry, examining alleged war crimes by UK forces between 2010 and 2013, also heard of a cover-up after three farmers were killed in a night raid.
Forklift Abuse Allegations
Monica Grenfell, a former kitchen staff member and storewoman for UK special forces (UKSF) between 2015 and 2018, told the inquiry that a soldier bragged about abusing detainees. 'I specifically recall him telling me that he would put prisoners on a forklift, raise it up and drive very fast so that they fell off,' she said. When asked by counsel Jonathan Polnay KC, she said she was 'appalled' that the man 'thought it was funny'. 'I mean, he wasn’t doing anything alone, but it was something they did for fun doing this and jamming on the brakes so they fell off,' she added.
Grenfell described the atmosphere at the special forces camp as 'coarse and feral', saying she had 'never been anywhere that was as bad as there'. She said soldiers wore their own clothes and 'no one was really watching them'. There was also 'sexual banter' that 'went on from the beginning of the day to the end'. A colleague told her that the people they worked with had 'sort of gone wild' and compared it to the book Lord of the Flies.
Killing of Three Farmers
Christopher Green, an Army Reserve information operations officer who served between January and September 2012, testified about an incident where three brothers working as farmers in the village of Rahim were shot dead by special forces. He said his unit's intelligence team were 'pretty clear that there was nothing to suggest that the sons were anything other than farmers and even less to suggest that they were Taliban commanders'. After raising concerns with a UKSF liaison officer, he was called a 'Taliban-loving apologist'.
Green said he was denied access to bodycam footage of the killings despite having the necessary security clearance. The mother of the three brothers, Bebe Hazrata, was given £3,634 in cash by the UK government as an 'assistance payment'. Green told the inquiry: 'It is a very unusual policy and to my mind it was an admission of guilt that we had killed the wrong people and that these people were not actually Taliban commanders.' He initially thought the shooters had 'got the wrong people', but grew to believe 'you’ve got the wrong people and you’ve behaved unlawfully'.
Cover-Up Allegations
The inquiry is also investigating whether there was an alleged cover-up of illegal activity and inadequate investigation by the Royal Military Police. No charges were brought under Operation Northmoor, a £10 million investigation set up in 2014 to examine allegations of executions by the SAS, including those of children. A further Royal Military Police investigation, codenamed Operation Cestro, resulted in three soldiers being referred to the Service Prosecuting Authority, but none were prosecuted.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'The Government is fully committed to supporting the independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan as it continues its work, and we are hugely grateful to all former and current defence employees who have so far given evidence. We also remain committed to providing the support that our Special Forces deserve, whilst maintaining the transparency and accountability that the British people rightly expect from their armed forces. It’s right that we allow the inquiry to complete its important work before responding in full.'
The inquiry continues.
