Afghanistan inquiry threatening Army recruitment, claims former commander
The inquiry into the conduct of special forces in Afghanistan is affecting the Army's recruitment drive, a retired SAS commander has warned.
Ed Butler, the former commanding officer of 22 SAS, said recent allegations about the SAS and Special Boat Service (SBS) made by the BBC were 'sensationalist' and risked exacerbating the recruitment and retention problem plaguing the military.
Writing for The Telegraph on Wednesday, Brig Butler said: 'Current members of the SAS and Special Boat Service (SBS), along with other service personnel, are now worried every time they pull the trigger that a lawyer or journalist is going to come after them 10 or 20 years after the event. This is not only hugely corrosive to morale, but also affects recruitment and retention.'
He added that the Government 'risks failure' if it does not support the Armed Forces.
'Serving and retired members of the Armed Forces want to know that the MoD and ministers have their backs on the battlefield and in the courts,' he wrote.
'The Government cannot have it both ways. Either it supports its Armed Forces from cradle to grave, or it risks failure.'
In recent years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has suffered from a recruitment and retention crisis across all three services. Last week, the Government committed to delivering the Strategic Defence Review's recommendation of recruiting around 3,000 additional regular troops in the next Parliament.
The review had revealed the number of UK regular troops and reservists had been in 'persistent decline', and had fallen eight per cent since 2022.
A public inquiry into alleged war crimes by Britain's special forces in Afghanistan has been in progress since 2023.
In the most recent Panorama programme, which aired last month, further allegations suggested British special forces murdered children, and killed unarmed civilians in their sleep during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the programme, military veterans who fought in the wars accused members of the special forces of executing handcuffed detainees and keeping a 'kill count' during the campaigns.
After the show was screened, a senior Army source told The Telegraph the claims were 'vexatious and fallacious'. 'The Panorama premise stinks,' he added.
Brig Butler said: 'There is too much sensationalist commentary in the media alleging that British special forces went rogue in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, commentators make unsubstantiated claims about operations of which they have little understanding.'
He added that it was easy to 'underestimate' the events which took place in Helmand province between 2008 and 2013.
It was a time when improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were killing and wounding hundreds of British servicemen and women, and the SAS had been tasked with stopping those making the bombs.
'The success of SAS action is clear,' Brig Butler writes. 'Over five years, the number of fatalities dropped from 168 per year to just five per year. The only other option – drone strikes – would have killed many innocent civilians.'
Brig Butler, who sits on the regimental charities The Clocktower Foundation and the SAS Regimental Association, told The Telegraph: 'Morale is low. It's impacting on retention and family life. It's not just SAS and the SBS, it's the wider military. People don't believe the system will stand up for you when you are hounded by lawyers years after the event.'
Brig Butler has personal experience of something similar to draw upon. In 2012, having commanded troops in Northern Ireland 20 years before, he was taken to court accused of murder.
'I have lived and breathed this,' he said. 'It was nine months of hell for me and my team where I spent five days in a court in west Belfast being prosecuted.
'I know first hand what people are going through, it's very corrosive. They gave their life and time to service for king and country and this is how they are treated. It's not just serving guys. Every time you pull the trigger you ask, 'Will I be pulled up in court 20 years after the event?''
The brigadier added: 'If there is a tiny percentage of people who did do what is alleged, fine. The regiment is not trying to back away from that.'
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