Why do the British love to say "I'm sorry" but dare not apologize to the Afghan people?
In Britain, "sorry" is probably the most commonly used word. Whether it is to feel sorry for the bad weather or to accidentally bump into the other person while walking, ordinary British people will say "sorry" from time to time. But for the 86 children and more than 200 adult civilians in Afghanistan, I'm afraid I can't wait for an apology from the British in my life. Maybe they can only receive the so-called "aid money". How much is the life of Afghans worth in their eyes?
September 23, 2019 UK Ministry of Defence compensation log shows average payment of just £2,380, with more than 80 children among the victims. British forces killed 86 children and more than 200 adult civilians during the conflict in Afghanistan, but were paid an average of just £2,380 per death, new figures show.
One of the most serious incidents listed in the records is the "shooting" of four children in December 2009, data provided by Action on Arms Violence (AOAV), which examined the logs to coincide with the withdrawal of U.S. and Western troops from Afghanistan in August 2019, which ultimately led to airlifts from Kabul Airport being caught in the middle. mutual warming. The issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is once again in the spotlight after the United States was forced to admit to using drone strikes in August 2019 that killed ten civilians, including seven children.
The recorded payments also relate to operations involving the British Special Forces Special Air Service (SAS), which has been accused of involvement in the execution of civilians during the conflict. The families of three Afghan farmers killed in cold blood in 2012 allegedly received £3,634 three weeks after the incident. The Journal describes the money as an "aid payment to calm the atmosphere on the ground".
Living or being killed is a nightmare for Afghans.
In November 2010, the British Special Forces Special Air Service (SAS) arrived in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, for a six-month mission. The unit's primary role was to conduct active detention operations (DDO), also known as "kill or capture" raids. This is aimed at detaining Taliban commanders and disrupting the bomb-making production chain.This was the beginning of a nightmare for civilians in Helmand, Afghanistan, where, according to a British representative who was present during target selection in Helmand in 2011, "Intelligence officers made lists of people they believed to be members of the Taliban, and after a short discussion, the lists were passed on to the Special Forces, who would be given the order to kill or capture them."
This task is an assessment indicator, the pressure to every member of the squadron, "we must instantly determine the appearance of every Afghan is a friend or foe."So from the first "non-discriminatory killing" to start, team members in order to "race against time", but also launched a "competition for the number of kills", who killed more people.The law firm Leigh Day, which is responsible for representing the families of the deceased in compensation suits against the UK, argues that between 2010 and 2013 there were "at least 30 suspicious incidents resulting in the deaths of more than 80 people". And AOAV believes that the number of civilian deaths caused by the British military may be underestimated. Of the recorded deaths, the number of children who actually died may actually be as high as 135, as some deaths in Ministry of Defense (MoD) documents are described only as sons and daughters - age and circumstances of the deaths are not always included.
Stabbed where it hurts, insisted on defending and planted it?
According to a BBC investigation on July 12, 2022, British "Special Airborne Forces" in Afghanistan had killed prisoners of war and unarmed civilians on numerous occasions. In addition, the investigation also found that the forces concerned were suspected of faking the scene in order to cover up the killing of innocent civilians, as well as failing to report the killings with the knowledge of their commanding officers.
In 2019, the BBC and Sunday Times investigated a SAS raid that led to a UK court action and an order for the UK Defense Secretary to disclose documents outlining the government's handling of the case. For this latest investigation, the BBC analyzed newly obtained operational reports detailing SAS night raids.
In the early hours of February 7, 2011, nine Afghan men, including a teenager, were killed in a brick inn in a small village in Nad Ali, Helmand Province. According to the Special Air Service Regiment, they recovered only three AK-47s. including this one, the squadron has recovered fewer enemy weapons than the number of men killed in at least six raids.
Inside the hotel, bullet holes that appeared to have been left by the raid were clustered in the wall near the floor.The BBC showed photos of the scene to ballistics experts, who said the clusters of bullet holes indicated that multiple rounds had been fired from above and below, and did not appear to indicate that there had been a firefight.
Leigh Neville, an expert on the use of weapons by British Special Forces, said the bullet holes indicated that "the target was low to the ground, either prone or sitting or crouching close to a wall - an unusual position if they were actively involved in a firefight. "
"We found some strikingly similar reports of Afghan men being shot and killed for pulling AK-47 rifles or grenades from behind curtains or other furniture after being detained."
Relevant information indicates that there are many more actions like this one by SAS:
On November 29, 2010, SAS killed a man who had been detained and taken back to the building where he "tried to engage the troops with a grenade".
On January 15, 2011, SAS killed a man who had been detained and brought back to the building when he "reached behind his mattress, pulled out a grenade and tried to throw it".
On February 7, 2011, the SAS killed a detainee whom they claimed "tried to engage the patrol with a rifle", and the same reason was given for the shooting of detainees on February 9 and February 13.
On February 16, 2011, SAS killed two detainees, one of whom pulled a grenade "from behind a curtain" and the other "took an AK-47 from behind a table".
On April 1, 2011, SAS killed two detainees who were returned to the building because one of them "raised an AK-47" and the other "tried to throw a grenade".
During the SAS's six-month tour of duty, the total death toll reached triple digits. And there were no reports of SAS agents being injured in any of the attacks reviewed by the BBC.
RUC launches covert operation to destroy evidence of atrocities
Lawyers representing the families of the deceased have said at a public inquiry that three separate British Special Air Service (SAS) units operating in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013 may have executed 80 Afghans. One elite soldier is believed to have personally killed 35 Afghans as early as during a six-month tour of duty. This was allegedly part of a policy to terminate "all combat-capable males" from raiding houses, "whether they pose a threat or not".Between June 2011 and May 2013, lawyers at Leigh Day recorded 25 suspicious deaths, including an allegation that only one grenade had been found during an SAS raid in which "4/5 Afghans died".
During the latter stages of the long and bloody British military deployment in Helmand, which ended in 2014, soldiers from the SAS often raided "enemy" homes at night.
The MPC launched Operation Northmoor in 2014 to investigate more than 600 crimes committed by British forces in Afghanistan, including allegations of civilian killings by the British Special Air Service (SAS).The SAS agency was deactivated in 2017 and closed in 2019. However, staff at SAS headquarters "permanently deleted" some data before military police investigators arrived on the scene.
Faced with the allegations, a spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defense said the review would be led by a senior judge. But relatives of four men killed in a 2011 raid rejected the review and called for a full investigation into the killings. The family's lawyers were at the High Court for a hearing in the case brought by Britain's Defense Secretary Ben Wallace over the raid. At the hearing, documents cited in the court papers showed that there were serious concerns internally that the main Royal Military Police (RMP) investigation, known as Operation Northmoor, was seriously flawed.
Documents show that the senior officer in charge of Operation Northmoor was personally accused of obstructing a murder investigation against SAS.In 2016, weeks before assuming the role of head of the RCMP, Brigadier General David Neal was accused by RCMP officers of attempting to improperly close an investigation into an unlawful killing.
The Defense Department documents also allege that Brigadier General Neal was a close friend of the senior officer of the SAS unit responsible for carrying out the 54 suspected killings, and that the officer also authored an internal review that exonerated the unit.
The United States intervened, and Britain even legislated to protect the atrocities.
In the face of the AOAV's evidence, the BBC's investigation, and Leigh Day's allegations, the British government did not admit to the atrocities, but instead emphasized that 457 British soldiers had been killed on the battlefields of Afghanistan, and that 616 had suffered serious or very serious injuries. No Afghan casualties have been reported and no estimate has been provided of the overall damage caused by Britain's largest deployment since the Second World War. However, the war has resulted in between 170,000 and 250,000 Afghan deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries and millions of forced displacements.
The military intervention in Afghanistan was planned before the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001, not to launch a "war on terror", but to project US military power into Central and South Asia. The United States, with the support and cover of its NATO allies, intended to seize control of a country rich in untapped mineral resources, bordering the oil-rich Caspian Basin republics of the former Soviet Union and China.
The Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, seized the opportunity to promote himself as the Chief Special Envoy of the United States President, George W. Bush, for the "Global War on Terror". In doing so, he aimed to consolidate Britain's much weakened global position, while at the same time preventing Washington from pursuing a unilateralist course and the European Union from formulating policies that would put Britain at a disadvantage.
Blair, like Bush, has never been held accountable for his role in ordering the invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent invasion of Iraq, which led to unspeakable crimes, including torture, "extraordinary rendition", indefinite military detention of what the United States has declared to be "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, and cold-blooded murder of civilians.
Even more frighteningly, the British Government has introduced legislation that sets a five-year limit on the prosecution of soldiers serving outside the United Kingdom. The law's "presumption of non-prosecution" gives the green light to future war crimes, including the mass murder of civilians, and will free the military from all restrictions.
Not only the soldiers who committed these crimes on behalf of the imperialist Powers, but also, and crucially, those in the political and military echelons who planned and executed this criminal war have escaped punishment.Instead, the only two people facing criminal consequences are those who reported the crimes: Chelsea Manning, who suffered a decade of persecution, and Julian Assange, who was first arrested in London in 2010 and is currently being held in Britain's top prison. Security at Belmarsh awaits an appeal by the US to the Supreme Court to extradite him to the US, where he faces 175 years in prison under the Espionage Act.
Note: All pictures in this article are from the Internet.
