A former Australian soldier has sought forgiveness from the Afghan children of a man allegedly stomped to death by another senior special forces soldier in a further development linked to an independent war crimes inquiry.
Former special forces medic Dusty Miller’s journey of reconciliation with the family of Afghan farmer Haji Sardar comes as the Brereton war crimes inquiry examining Mr Sardar’s 2012 death and allegations of serious misconduct prepares its final report.
Dusty Miller on patrol in Afghanistan in 2012.
An investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes can reveal the SAS was recently briefed by senior defence officials that inquiry chief Judge Paul Brereton has uncovered evidence to conclude that a small number of SAS soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
While the full details of the war crimes uncovered will not be known at least until Mr Brereton's report is finalised in the coming weeks, defence sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the report is still confidential claim it will be so revelatory that Australia’s special forces command believe the fallout will last for a decade.
Official sources party to internal defence briefings have confirmed the SAS has also been told Australia’s military chief Angus Campbell and his top brass support the inquiry and the whistleblowers inside the SAS who exposed the misconduct of a small number of rogue soldiers.
The case involving Mr Miller is among those investigated by the inquiry and involves the death of Mr Sardar on March 14, 2012, in the southern Afghanistan village of Sarkum.
Mr Miller has revealed that just prior to his death, Mr Sardar, a father of seven, was in his care suffering a non-fatal gunshot wound. He was shot through the thigh by the SAS when they first landed in his village.
Mr Miller, also a soldier who was deployed with the elite SAS to Afghanistan in February 2012, claims the injured Mr Sardar was taken from his care by a senior SAS soldier. The Herald and The Age have chosen not to name the soldier, who has since left the military, for legal reasons. Injuries on Mr Sardar’s body suggest he was stomped on. The injuries were photographed by Mr Sardar’s family. Mr Miller did not witness Mr Sardar’s death.
Mr Miller has been so haunted by his failure to protect Mr Sardar, he sought to contact his children in Afghanistan earlier this year and seek forgiveness. His emotional meeting over Skype with Mr Sardar’s son is covered by Good Weekend and in a special report for 60 Minutes on Sunday.
“I wanted to tell them that I was sorry for what happened to their father and that I should have done more,” Mr Miller said.
Hazratullah Sardar was 14 when his father, Haji Sardar, was killed in their southern Afghanistan village. Credit: Richard Malone
Mr Miller, who is assisting the Brereton inquiry along with several other SAS whistleblowers, said the findings needed to be released to the Australian public to ensure full accountability.
Mr Miller said the vast majority of SAS soldiers did “great work” but a very small number “stepped over a line”.
Mr Miller, who was deployed on dozens of missions in Afghanistan in 2012 and was decorated in 2018 for reforming military medic training, has been backed by two other Afghan veterans, former SAS medic Steve Thompson and senior special forces medical officer Dan Pronk.
Mr Thompson and Dr Pronk described Mr Miller as a brave and exemplary medic and said the moral injury he suffered had broken Mr Miller mentally. He suffers from severe PTSD.
Dr Pronk described Mr Miller as a medic who would “run through gunfire to try and save one of them [an SAS soldier] when they are critically wounded”.
“He proved himself over and over again on the ground in Afghanistan, on combat operations with the SAS,” Dr Pronk said.
Mr Thompson said Australians should be proud of Mr Miller not only for serving his country in Afghanistan but for “risking reprisals” to help expose the murder of Mr Sardar.
“I think he’s incredibly brave,” Mr Thompson said.
The Good Weekend/60 Minutes investigation has discovered the initial military inquiry into the killing was bungled after Mr Sardar’s body was confused with the body of another dead Afghan by military investigators. The mistake was relied on to dismiss allegations from Mr Sardar’s children that he was brutally murdered.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission senior official who reported Mr Sardar’s death to the Australian military in 2012, Abdul Gharraf, said it was one of many cases he felt was unduly dismissed by the Australian military.
Dr Gharraf, who lives in Adelaide, called on the Australian government to release the inquiry’s findings to the international community and so the victims of atrocities could find some form of justice. Dr Gharraf said he had been interviewed by the Brereton inquiry.
In February, the office of the Australian military inspector general — which in 2016 appointed NSW Court of Appeal Justice Paul Brereton to run the war crimes inquiry — has revealed he is investigating at least 55 incidents, including the alleged execution of prisoners.
Read the full investigation here and watch 60 Minutes, 8.30pm Sunday night on Nine.
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