Rules of Engagement breached in Afghanistan

I recently watched a documentary on an Australian Elite Combat Force involved in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2012.

It was disturbing to realize that the Australian Military Force was under investigation by the Australian Military Staff for breaking the rules of engagement to the point that some of the elite unit could be held responsible for War Crimes.

The elite force was highly trained and had possession of the latest weaponry including Black Hawk helicopters. I trust the training included understanding of the rules of engagement.

Most of the force were responsible soldiers but a few, at least two, were rogue combatants that did not follow the rules.

This resulted in the unnecessary willful killing of suspected Taliban and Afghan civilians, the willful and unnecessary destruction of Afghan homes, vehicles and dogs, unnecessary abuse and abusive treatment of Afghans, and the execution of Afghans who had surrendered and had no weapons.

Although most of the elite unit were upset by the practices, the concerns were not raised to the Australian staff for a significant time.

The concerns and legal actions are still under review. It is also likely that the whistle-blowers will suffer abusive treatment in Australia. The result of this failure of the rules will be that many Afghans feel they are safer with the Taliban.

This failure will destroy the efforts of the other brave soldiers who were trying to do their duty and protect the Afghan public. Put in other words, fear of those fighting the terrorists is also a root cause of the continuation of terrorism. I believe that these failures are more prevalent than we realize. There are many examples including a similar incident with Canadian soldiers in Somalia and the torture of prisoners in Afghanistan.

The dangers and stress of fighting terrorists in a foreign country can easily result in soldiers developing inappropriate hatred of the culture. This makes it essential that military staff make efforts to ensure understanding of the consequences of the failure to follow the Rules of Engagement.

All present wars are civil wars so the appropriate application of the rules should be universal.

The training needs to include:

• The consequences of failure to follow the rules would include possible imprisonment;

• The impacts of failures to follow the rules on the goals and efforts of the mission;

• The importance of addressing failures immediately at even the lowest levels to minimize impacts;

• The importance of reporting failures to appropriate senior military staff to ensure action;

• The protection of whistle-blowers even if they are found to be mistaken;

• Any soldier who realizes they have developed such hatred or acted on such hatred and admits their failures be treated more leniently and provided with counselling;

• A small percentage of Muslims are fundamentalists that promote terrorism. There have historically been incidents of domestic terrorism in all major fundamental religious groups. It is unlikely that proper rules of engagement were followed in all of them.

It is critical that true terrorists, particularly those who murder the citizens of their country, are prosecuted. Because many of these are domestic terrorists, they are frequently not easily recognized, or are even in situations where terrorism is supported by populist governments.

Sometimes the failure of peacekeeping missions, such as the recent retreat of western forces from Afghanistan, are in part our own failure to ensure that rules of engagement are followed.

Bill Stollery is a retired construction manager residing in Penticton and aspiring

author – ‘How WE Can Save the World’