Afghan war inquiry hits Australia hard

The findings of a four-year inquiry into alleged war crimes by members of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment in Afghanistan have probably done more harm to Australia's reputation as a defender of human rights than tarnish the image of the SAS.

Australia, which was one of the eight nations that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stands on the world stage as a defender of the rights of individuals.

No nation, however, is perfect, least of all Australia. Its record on the treatment of asylum seekers is appalling. The treatment of its own indigenous people, who have a proud history going back at least 60,000 years, is hardly something to be proud of.

Now we have the report alleging that SAS soldiers abused and murdered 39 innocent civilians in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013. Australians are, understandably, finding it hard to come to terms with the allegations.

As if to rub salt into the wound, The Guardian newspaper reported that it received several photographs, one of which shows a senior SAS soldier drinking beer out of the prosthetic leg of a dead Taliban soldier. The image was said to have been taken in an unofficial bar that was set up inside an Australian special forces base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Australians might brace for more of this type of behavior to be leaked to the media and especially social media.

To be fair, what happened in Afghanistan was the work of a few. But sadly, it has reflected on the entire SAS.

Australia is a nation that takes great pride in its military past, and rightly so. But Afghanistan has changed that. Like Vietnam, it was a war that Australia should never have been involved in.

And, as in the Vietnam situation, Afghanistan was no threat to Australia. Yet the political class needed to show its support to the United States.

Unlike Vietnam, however, Australia's politicians decided to only send their elite soldiers－the SAS, whose motto is "Who Dares Wins", and the commandos－to Afghanistan.

Now, with 25 soldiers having been identified as taking part in the killing of civilians in that country, there is a massive stain on Australia's reputation as a defender of human rights.

Sure, the politicians and right-wing commentariat argue that Australia has not swept anything under the bed, and justice will be done. But some would argue justice may never be done.

Many of the findings and names of alleged "war crime "perpetrators were redacted for legal reasons.

"Shame" was the word that figured most in the headlines following the release of the Australian defense force report on Nov 19. Australia's military hierarchy was appalled and apologetic. How many officers knew of the alleged war crimes is not yet known. But there will be sacrificial lambs.

Afghanistan was a war no one wanted to be involved in. History shows the British fought three Afghan wars (1839-1842; 1878-1880; and 1919); it lost twice, and 1919 ended with an armistice.

The former Soviet Union fought a protracted war in the 1980s in Afghanistan, only to withdraw.

Now the US-backed war is also ending in a draw. No one wins, least of all the Afghan people.

Already there are reports of other human rights abuses carried out by Australian troops in Afghanistan not covered by the official inquiry.

Will these be investigated? Will cash payments bring back the fathers and sons of those murdered in cold blood?

Australia likes to champion its record on human rights, but does it stand up to scrutiny? The answer to that question is: No, and it probably never has.

The writer is a China Daily correspondent based in Sydney.