The two senior officers were in a position to interpret the language in the regiment’s reports, having served with SBS operational units in Afghanistan prior to the arrival of the SAS, when the naval unit was forced to take what it saw as a back seat, pursuing anti-narcotics operations rather than hunting the Taliban.
As well as believing that the SAS may have committed murders, they described in their emails what they viewed as a cover-up in Afghanistan. The second officer told the inquiry chair: “Basically, there appears to be a culture there of ‘shut up, don’t question’.”
At the time, support staff in Afghanistan were sceptical about the SAS’s accounts of their operations, judging them not credible.
But rather than taking the concerns seriously, a reprimand had been issued “to ensure that the staff officers support the guys on the ground”, another senior SBS officer wrote.
He told the inquiry that in the eyes of the Special Forces’ commanding officer in Afghanistan, the SAS could do no wrong, and described the lack of accountability for the regiment as “astonishing”.
The documents released on Wednesday also reveal new details about an explosive meeting in Afghanistan in February 2011, during which the Afghan special forces that partnered the SAS angrily withdrew their support.
The meeting followed a growing rift between the SAS and the Afghan special forces over what the Afghans saw as unlawful killings by members of the SAS.
One Afghan officer present at the meeting was so incensed that he reportedly reached for his pistol.
Describing the meeting in a newly released email, the SBS officer wrote: “I’ve never had such a hostile meeting before – genuine shouting, arm waving and with me staring down a 9mm barrel at one stage – all pretty unpleasant.”
After intervention from senior members of UKSF, the Afghan units agreed to continue to working alongside the SAS. But it would not be the last time they withdrew their support in protest.
“This is all very damaging,” the SBS officer concluded his email.
Additional reporting by Conor McCann
