Afghan Inquiry: further ‘complaints and concerns’ documents released

Unredacted has today published a new tranche of material from the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, including testimony from senior UK Special Forces officers on the mounting evidence they were faced with of war crimes by units on the ground in Afghanistan.

The documents were first released last week by the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan – established in the wake of allegations that UK Special Forces (UKSF) committed war crimes in Afghanistan by engaging in a series of extrajudicial killings which were subsequently covered up at multiple levels.

This new tranche of material is based on a series of hearings which heard evidence from senior UKSF officers, including the second most senior officer in the force in 2011 (ciphered as N2252), the staff officer with responsibility for UKSF campaigns (N1788) and the Chief of Staff in the UKSF headquarters in Afghanistan (N889). As with all previous hearings involving UKSF personnel, these were conducted behind closed doors in 2024. There has been a significant delay in the release of this information by the Inquiry, with summaries and supporting documents only just published – some two years later.

Included in the documents released today are a redacted version of the final ‘TTP review’ – an internal review conducted in April 2011 by N1788, who himself had close ties to the unit under investigation. The review was conducted in under a week and did not explore the mounting evidence that the unit was conducting extrajudicial killings during counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan.¹ Also included in the material are:

• Emails between senior officers in the aftermath of specific UKSF operations, making clear the concerns at the time in relation to the unit’s actions on target.²
• Emails between senior officers attempting to ‘nip in the bud’ concerns from a high-profile international organisation in relation to these operations.³
• Correspondence establishing the ‘TTP review’, including its narrow terms of reference.⁴
• Witness statements provided by N1788 and N889 to the Royal Military Police (RMP) in 2016 and 2018 (inexplicably, N2252 appears not to have been interviewed by the RMP).⁵
• Witness statements provided by all three officers to the Inquiry in 2024.⁶
• Summaries of the hearings conducted in 2024 behind closed doors.⁷

1. UK Special Forces, Memo: Op [B], Review of [SU1] TTPs, Final Report, N1786 (Commander, UKSF HQ Afghanistan) to N1802 (Director Special Forces), 20 Apr 2011. ↩︎
2. UK Special Forces, Emails: Op [C(1)] Obj [2], N2252 (COS, Directorate Special Forces) and N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), 9 Feb 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: Op [C(1)] Obj [2], N2252 (COS, Directorate Special Forces) and N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), 9-13 Feb 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: Obj Tyburn, N2252 (COS, Directorate Special Forces) and N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), document with attachment, 16-17 Feb 2011. ↩︎
3. UK Special Forces, Emails: [Third Party Entity] Meeting Read Out, N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces) and N1802 (Director Special Forces), May-Jun 2011, some dates part redacted, [xx] May 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: Obj Tyburn 16 Feb 11, N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), N2272 (SO2 Campaigns (B), Directorate Special Forces), N2444 (SO2 Campaigns (A), Directorate Special Forces), N5462 (SO2 Consequence Manager, HQ TFH), N889 (COS, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), date part redacted, [xx] May 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: Obj Tyburn 16 Feb 11, N910 (SO2 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), N1141 (OC [SU1A, UKSF1]), N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), N889 (COS, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), N2272 (SO2 Campaigns (B), Directorate Special Forces), N2444 (SO2 Campaigns (A), Directorate Special Forces), N5462 (SO2 Consequence Manager, HQ TFH), document with attachments, date part redacted, [xx] May 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: Obj Tyburn 16 Feb 11 [Ver. 2], N2108 (SO1 Legal, Directorate Special Forces), N2272 (SO2 Campaigns (B), Directorate Special Forces), N2444 (SO2 Campaigns (A), Directorate Special Forces), N5462 (SO2 Consequence Manager, HQ TFH), N889 (COS, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), date part redacted, [xx] May 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: [Third Party Entity], N6881 (COS, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), N1788 (SO1 Campaigns, Directorate Special Forces), N1785 (Commander, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), N2267 (OC [SU1D]), N2444 (SO2 Campaigns (A), Directorate Special Forces), N2272 (SO2 Campaigns (B), Directorate Special Forces), Jul-Aug 2011, some dates part redacted, [xx] Jul 2011. ↩︎
4. UK Special Forces, Emails: TTP Review, N1788 (SO1 Campaigns, Directorate Special Forces), N1786 (Commander, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), 8 Apr 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: [SFHQ(A)] Security Breach, N2252 (COS, Directorate Special Forces), N1464 (ACOS (Personnel), Directorate Special Forces), N1786 (Commander, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), 18-19 Apr 2011; UK Special Forces, Emails: [SU1] TTP Review, N1786 (Commander, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), N1788 (SO1 Campaigns, Directorate Special Forces), N2444 (SO2 Campaigns (A), Directorate Special Forces), N889 (COS, UKSF HQ Afghanistan), 20-24 Apr 2011. ↩︎
5. Royal Military Police (Operation Northmoor), Witness Statement: N889, 21 Apr 2016; Royal Military Police (Operation Northmoor), Witness Statement: N1788, first witness statement, 13 May 2016; Royal Military Police (Operation Northmoor), Witness Statement: N1788, second witness statement, 15 Aug 2018. ↩︎
6. Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Witness Statement: N889, 24 Jan 2024; Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Witness Statement: N2252, 8 Feb 2024 [error on document date]; Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Witness Statement: N1788, 22 Apr 2024. ↩︎
7. Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Gist: Concerns and Complaints Hearing Part 2, Evidence From N1788, 28 May 2026; Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Gist: Concerns and Complaints Hearing Part 2, Evidence From N2252, 28 May 2026; Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, Gist: Concerns and Complaints Hearing Part 2, Evidence From N889, 28 May 2026. ↩︎