During a lengthy interview with 9News Australia, Suhail Shaheen claimed that the 41 Australian soldiers who died during the war in Afghanistan had “died in vain,” stating that “they died in our country, occupying our country.”
Taliban accuse Australia of ‘human rights violations’
Shaheen, a fluent English speaker who formerly edited the Kabul Times, told reporter Jonathan Kearsley that Australian soldiers had “committed some of the worst and most brutal human rights violations by cutting off the fingers of dead bodies and killing farmers.”
During the interview, Shaheen also denied claims that the Taliban had attacked Australians after footage emerged showing an Adelaide man, who has since gone into hiding, appearing to have been injured after an alleged encounter with the Taliban.
Shaheen has claimed that “amnesty has been granted to those who have worked with foreign forces” and that Afghanistan is “peaceful and united,” despite reports of killings and forced marriages that have emerged since the Taliban regained power.
Shaheen has stated that evidence for his allegations against the Australian military can be found in the 2020 Brereton report.
This report, published after a four-year investigation by Major General Paul Brereton, provided credible evidence to suggest that Australian special forces soldiers had allegedly killed 39 Afghans in 23 separate incidents. Two others were allegedly subjected to cruel treatment.
All of the alleged victims had been non-combatants, a factor that the report concluded “was or should have been clear,” while one alleged incident was described as “possibly the most shameful episode in Australia’s military history.”
An Adelaide father-of-three’s in hiding after being attacked by the Taliban while visiting his sick mother in Afghanistan.
His wife telling @9NewsAdel she hasn’t slept or eaten and is desperate for Government to help bring her loved one home.
5PM & 6PM pic.twitter.com/UkFG4Yyiek
— Kate Lambe (@katelambe_) August 26, 2021
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