The Guardian: UK Forces Behind Deaths of ~300 Afghan Civilians
British daily The Guardian reveals that UK Ministry of Defense compensation logs showed that British forces in Afghanistan are linked to the deaths of almost 300 civilians and paid a paltry £2,380 on average for each life lost.
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UK forces are linked to civilian deaths in Afghanistan
British forces in Afghanistan were behind the deaths of close to 300 civilians in Afghanistan; 86 children and more than 200 adults to be more specific, and they only paid £2,380 on average for each civilian life lost, according to a report published by The Guardian.
These numbers were obtained from Ministry of Defense (MoD) compensation logs, which provided much information, such as the youngest victim being three years old only.
The report also listed a number of related incidents, such as paying £4,233.60 to a family after four children were shot and killed in December 2009. Some other payments amounted to less than a few hundred pounds, like in February 2008 when a family received £104.17 after one of its members was killed, and another was given £586.42 following the killing of their 10-year-old son in December 2009.
According to Murray Jones, the author of the research compiled by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), “These files do not make for easy reading. The banality of language means hundreds of tragic deaths, including dozens of children, read more like an inventory.”
“These files do not make for easy reading. The banality of language means hundreds of tragic deaths, including dozens of children, read more like an inventory.”#Afghanistan #UK #WarCrimes https://t.co/8vypKFWUGG
— Jonathan Moremi (@jonamorem) September 23, 2021
The compensation logs show that £688,000 was paid by the UK military for 289 deaths between 2006 and 2013, meaning an average of £2,380 per death.
The payments also recorded operations involving SAS (UK special forces) operations. These forces have been accused of involvement in executing civilians during the conflict. The family of three farmers killed by the SAS in 2012 received £3,634, three weeks after the incident. The money that went to this family was described in the logs as "assistance payment to be made to calm local atmopherics [sic]."
The British MoD had stated that in the past it has investigated allegations of SAS involvement in extra-judicial executions (the killing of civilians in cold blood), and found that there was "insufficient evidence for prosecution."
