They called it “going up the Congo”. This was Afghanistan, not Africa, but it didn’t matter – the object was the same. The special forces soldiers put on their body armour, blackened their faces, checked their weapons by firing into sand pits and went out on patrol. New members were given a test – the “blooding”, they called it – where they had to shoot an unarmed prisoner. His comrades then covered it up with a “throwdown”, a weapon not issued to the army, so they could claim that the alleged insurgent was armed when he was killed. Others would cut off a hand as a souvenir.
I Remember Them Screaming : Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military
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I Remember Them Screaming : Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military
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‘I Remember Them Screaming’: Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military
By Khwaga Ghani
April 25, 2021
Editor’s note: This story includes details of violence that readers may find disturbing.
KABUL, Afghanistan When it started, the boy had been dozing on a mat in a room crammed with family visiting for a wedding. When it ended, his uncle and five other relatives, including small children, were dead.
Ras-Mohammad Dost recounts what happened late that night in February 2009 when Australian elite forces approached his family’s compound in Surkh Murghab in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province. Dost estimates he’s now 22 years old, which would have made him about 10 at the time.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton says there are no plans for Australian troops to return to Afghanistan By political reporter Matthew Doran
Australian troops will not return to Afghanistan, even if the nation s security deteriorates in the coming years, according to new Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
This year s Anzac Day commemorations will be the last marked with Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel deployed in Afghanistan.
Of the more than 39,000 Australian troops who have served in the country over the past two decades, only 80 remain there.
The decision has sparked fresh concerns about the stability of the country, with violence across Afghanistan escalating and peace talks with the Taliban having stalled.