SAS AFGHANISTAN WAR CRIMES INQUIRY COST REACHES £58M
An inquiry into allegations that British Special Forces murdered unarmed Afghan civilians has cost UK taxpayers £58 million, according to figures the Ministry of Defence gave the BBC under a Freedom of Information request. The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan has been running for more than three and a half years without publishing any findings, despite its chair, Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, saying at its 2023 launch that it aimed to report on an interim basis within 12 to 18 months. The MoD's £58 million figure, covering costs to March 2026, includes both the inquiry team's expenditure and the department's own costs. The inquiry itself previously reported spending of £14.68 million up to the end of the 2024-25 financial year, covering the chair's salary, its secretariat, lawyers and expert witnesses. The inquiry said its expenditure was proportionate and overseen judicially.
The inquiry was established to examine alleged war crimes by soldiers serving with the Special Air Service in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013, during night raids targeting the Taliban, including allegations that detainees and unarmed civilians, among them children, were murdered. It was set up by the then defence secretary, Ben Wallace, after BBC Panorama first reported the allegations in 2022. Much of the inquiry's work has taken place in closed sessions to protect serving personnel's identities, though some evidence has been published on its website. Senior UK military personnel have given evidence saying they believed the SAS carried out extrajudicial killings of Afghan civilians, and witnesses have raised concerns about secrecy surrounding SAS operations and about earlier investigations being ended prematurely.
The inquiry said its work had proven "greater and more complex than it originally envisaged," and it cited delays by the Ministry of Defence in disclosing information as a further factor affecting its timetable. No date has been given for when findings will be published.