Liberal MP and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie has revealed he had heard rumours of wrongdoing by Australian special forces before his deployment to Afghanistan and made clear his “expectations” of his soldiers.
Key points:
- Andrew Hastie says he is confident he is not under investigation for war crimes
- A report released last week found 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners were unlawfully killed by Australian soldiers
- Mr Hastie wants a parliamentary committee formed to better hold Defence to account
But he said this did not stop “incidents” occurring under his command that needed investigation.
“When I went to Afghanistan in 2013, it was at the tail end of the war,” Mr Hastie told the ABC.
“I had soldiers who deployed three, four, five and six times and people were tired, they were calloused, and it was a very, very challenging environment.
“When I went over there, I made it very clear what my expectations were, my junior leaders knew that. And despite that, we had some incidents that were made public in the Australian media.
“It was a tough time for all. And beyond that, I’m not at liberty to discuss, but I can say I’m confident that I’m not under investigation myself.”
Mr Hastie said it should be no surprise that sending soldiers repeatedly back to Afghanistan with insufficient accountability led to war crimes.