Decades after the fog of war settled over Afghanistan, the long arm of accountability has reached an Australian airport, where a 47-year-old former soldier was arrested and charged with five counts of war crime murder. The alleged killings of unarmed Afghan civilians and detainees between 2009 and 2012 place this man as only the second Australian veteran of that campaign to face such charges — a reckoning that is as rare as it is overdue. The case surfaces from a 2020 military inquiry that documented 39 unlawful killings, reminding the world that the moral ledger of war is rarely settled when
Australian soldier charged with five Afghanistan war crime murders
Five unarmed Afghan civilians were allegedly killed while detained and under the control of Australian Defence Force members.
Detained, unarmed, and under control when they were killed
Mark
So this soldier was arrested at the airport—does that mean he was trying to leave the country, or was he just coming home?
Mimi
He arrived on a flight from Brisbane, so he was already in Australia when he was arrested. It's not clear from the reporting whether he was attempting to flee or if police simply apprehended him upon arrival.
Luke
Right—and that matters for the narrative. If he was fleeing, that's one story. If he was just returning and police were waiting, that's another. The reporting doesn't tell us.
Mark
The charges say he killed five people. Were these soldiers, civilians, what?
Mimi
According to the police commissioner, they were unarmed and detained—under the control of ADF members when they were killed. So not combatants. The allegation is that he either shot them himself or ordered subordinates to do it.
Luke
The source says "unarmed" and "detained," which is clear enough. But we don't have names, ages, or any individual detail about the victims. We know they existed; we don't know who they were.
Mark
This is the second Australian soldier charged. What happened with the first one?
Mimi
Oliver Schulz, a former SAS soldier, was charged with killing a man named Dad Mohammad by shooting him three times in the head in a wheatfield in Uruzgan province in May 2012. He's pleaded not guilty.
Luke
So we have one case with a named victim and a specific location and date. The new case gives us five victims with no names and no dates. That's a significant difference in what we actually know.
Mark
There was a military report in 2020 that found 39 unlawful killings. Why are we only charging two soldiers now?
Mimi
The Office of the Special Investigator looked at 53 cases total. Thirty-nine of those investigations concluded without charges. So the vast majority of the documented cases didn't result in prosecution.
Luke
That's the real story underneath this one. Thirty-nine unlawful killings documented, but only two soldiers charged so far. The reporting doesn't explain why the gap is so large, and that's a legitimate question.
Mark
The police commissioner said this is a "very small section" of the ADF. Is that true?
Mimi
Well, 40,000 Australians served in Afghanistan over twenty years. If 39 unlawful killings occurred, that's a tiny fraction. But the commissioner is also making a political point—reassuring the public that the military as a whole is trustworthy.
Luke
She's doing both things at once. The facts support her claim that it's a small number. But the framing is also defensive. She's protecting the institution while acknowledging the crimes. That's worth noting.
El Pulso
- A former Australian soldier was arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with five counts of war crime murder, facing the prospect of life imprisonment for allegedly killing unarmed Afghan detainees under his command.
- The charges expose a deep tension between institutional pride and institutional accountability — authorities were careful to frame the accused as an exception, even as the pattern of alleged crimes suggests something more systemic.
- Of 53 cases examined by the Office of the Special Investigator, 39 were closed without charges, leaving a stark gap between documented unlawful killings and actual prosecutions.
- The case is only the second of its kind in Australia's Afghanistan reckoning, following former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, who has pleaded not guilty to a separate war crime murder charge.
- Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed the alleged victims were detained and unarmed, killed either directly by the accused or on his orders — placing command responsibility at the centre of the case.
Decades after the fog of war settled over Afghanistan, the long arm of accountability has reached an Australian airport, where a 47-year-old former soldier was arrested and charged with five counts of war crime murder. The alleged killings of unarmed Afghan civilians and detainees between 2009 and 2012 place this man as only the second Australian veteran of that campaign to face such charges — a reckoning that is as rare as it is overdue. The case surfaces from a 2020 military inquiry that documented 39 unlawful killings, reminding the world that the moral ledger of war is rarely settled when the fighting stops.
On Tuesday, a 47-year-old former Australian soldier was arrested at Sydney Airport after arriving from Brisbane, charged with five counts of war crime murder. His name has not been released. He is accused of killing five unarmed Afghans during his military service between 2009 and 2012, and was expected to appear in a Sydney court the same day.
Under Australian federal law, war crime murder covers the intentional killing of anyone not actively participating in hostilities — civilians, prisoners of war, or the wounded. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed that the alleged victims were detained and unarmed at the time of their deaths, and that the accused either carried out the killings himself or ordered subordinates to do so in his presence. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
This is only the second time an Australian Afghanistan veteran has faced war crime charges. The first, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, has pleaded not guilty to murdering an Afghan man in a Uruzgan province wheatfield in May 2012. Both cases flow from a landmark 2020 military report that documented 39 unlawful killings of Afghan prisoners, farmers, and civilians by elite Australian troops.
The Office of the Special Investigator examined 53 separate cases in total. Of those, 39 were closed without charges — a gap that raises uncomfortable questions about the reach of accountability. Barrett was careful to note that the alleged conduct involved only a small number of soldiers, and that the overwhelming majority of Australia's defence force serves with honour. Still, with roughly 40,000 Australians having served in Afghanistan and 41 killed there, the distance between the documented record and the prosecutorial one remains wide and difficult to ignore.
A 47-year-old former Australian soldier was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday after arriving on a flight from Brisbane, charged with five counts of war crime murder. Police have withheld his name. He is accused of killing five unarmed Afghans during his service between 2009 and 2012, and was expected to appear in a Sydney court the same day.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Under Australian federal law, war crime murder is defined as the intentional killing of a person not actively participating in hostilities—civilians, prisoners of war, or wounded soldiers—during armed conflict. According to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett, the alleged victims were detained and unarmed at the time they were killed, under the control of Australian Defence Force members. Barrett stated that the accused either shot the victims himself or ordered subordinate ADF members to shoot them in his presence.
This case marks only the second time an Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign has faced war crime charges. The first is Oliver Schulz, a 44-year-old former Special Air Service Regiment soldier, who has pleaded not guilty to a single count of war crime murder. Schulz is accused of shooting an Afghan man named Dad Mohammad three times in the head in a wheatfield in Uruzgan province in May 2012.
The charges emerge from a 2020 military report that documented evidence of unlawful killings by elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops. That investigation found that 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants were killed without legal justification. The Office of the Special Investigator, established to work with police on war crime allegations, had examined 53 separate cases. Of those, 39 investigations concluded without charges being filed.
Barrett emphasized that the alleged conduct involved only a small number of soldiers. "The overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud," she said, noting that the charges do not reflect the values or conduct of the service as a whole. She stressed that the Australian Defence Force remains trusted and respected, and that the vast majority of its members serve with honour and distinction.
Between 2001 and 2021, approximately 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan. Of that number, 41 were killed in the campaign. The investigation into potential war crimes has now resulted in accountability for at least two former soldiers, though the gap between the 39 documented unlawful killings in the 2020 report and the relatively small number of charges filed suggests that many cases have not resulted in prosecution.
Citas Notables
It will be alleged that the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed.— Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett
The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF.— Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett
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Crime & Justice