A high-stakes inquiry has heard explosive allegations that Britain's top special forces commander deliberately concealed evidence of unlawful killings, including of children, by elite SAS soldiers in Afghanistan. The testimony alleges a cover-up at the highest levels, allowing dozens of extrajudicial killings to continue for two years after the alarm was first raised.

These revelations, emerging from a UK public inquiry, raise profound questions about the accountability of foreign military powers. For Kenya, which hosts the British Army Training Unit (BATUK), the allegations are a stark reminder of the critical importance of oversight and justice when foreign troops operate on sovereign soil, an issue that has resonated locally in cases like the death of Agnes Wanjiru.

A Damning Accusation of Silence

A senior special forces officer, identified only as N1466, testified that he flagged concerns about potential "war crimes" to the director of special forces as early as February 2011. He told the inquiry that the commander made a "conscious decision" to "suppress this, cover this up and do a little fake exercise to make it look like he's done something."

The whistleblower lamented the consequences of this alleged inaction. "We could have stopped it in February 2011," the officer stated in evidence. "Those people who died unnecessarily from that point onwards... all that would not necessarily have come to pass if that had been stopped."

The Human Cost of Impunity

The inquiry is investigating claims that SAS units summarily killed at least 80 people between 2010 and 2013. Among the most harrowing accounts is the 2012 killing of Hussain Uzbakzai and his wife, Ruqquia Haleem, in Nimruz province. Their two toddlers, Imran and Bilal, were allegedly shot and seriously injured as they slept in their beds beside their parents.

In a video message to the inquiry, the children's uncle, Aziz, made a direct plea for accountability. "Even to this day, they are grieving the incident that happened to us... We are asking for the court to listen to these children and bring justice," he said.

A Pattern of Alleged Deceit

The testimony from whistleblower N1466 paints a picture of a systematic effort to hide the truth. He noted becoming suspicious after seeing operational reports with a disproportionate number of enemies killed compared to weapons recovered. Other alleged tactics included:

• Falsifying reports to justify killings.
• Planting weapons on victims, a practice reportedly known as a "Mr Wolf" operation.
• An unofficial policy to kill all fighting-age males, regardless of the threat they posed.

The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, was launched in 2023 to investigate the allegations of extrajudicial killings and whether subsequent investigations by military police were obstructed. The whistleblower's damning testimony suggests a deep-seated resistance within the chain of command to exposing the alleged crimes.

"It's not loyalty to your organisation to stand by and to watch it go down a sewer," N1466 told the inquiry, explaining his decision to speak out. As the hearings continue, the quest for justice for dozens of Afghan families hangs in the balance, with potential ramifications for military accountability worldwide.