The Valley: Defence Force responds to Afghanistan investigation

Friday, 1 September 2017

The Defence Force has conceded that its inquiry into a deadly battle in Afghanistan may have got things wrong - but says it stands by it anyway.

And it has confirmed that friendly New Zealand and Afghan forces may have fired at each other.

In a 34-page response to Stuff Circuit's 'The Valley' series, the NZDF has today said that Afghan authorities spoken to as part of the documentary may be right.

'Like so much of this contact, there are alternate possibilities,' said the statement.

The documentary series included journalists from the Stuff Circuit team going to the site of the Battle of Baghak, where two soldiers from New Zealand's Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) died in an August 2012 firefight with insurgents.

Four Afghan soldiers were also killed.

The Afghan soldiers spoken to by Stuff Circuit were never interviewed by the New Zealand military Court of Inquiry.

The inquiry concluded that while two of the wounded were likely hit by friendly fire, the remainder of the casualties were from insurgents.

Now NZDF has confirmed that may not be the case.

'There have been allegations by Stuff Circuit that there was a group of [Afghan soldiers] over a bridge to the [east] of the PRT…and a suggestion they fired upon each other,' said the statement.

While the Court of Inquiry 'held no conclusive evidence' that Afghans and New Zealanders had fired at each other, 'there was certainly the conditions that made it possible, and that it could not be excluded'.

Other key points of the statement include:

* Confirmation from NZDF for the first time that the PRT was involved in collecting biometric data.

* The release of a summary of a previously secret report which the NZDF had refused to hand over.

* An accusation that the Afghan forces twice refused to take part in the Court of Inquiry, an explanation the NZDF has never previously provided and which contradicts what the Afghan forces told Stuff Circuit.

* Confirmation that Afghan soldiers may be right about insurgents not being in a crucial location the Court of Inquiry placed them.  

It does not deal with the issue of who fired first.

The Court of Inquiry placed three insurgents to the west of the New Zealanders, and said that was where shots which had hit Kiwi soldiers came from.

But Afghan soldiers who fought alongside the PRT that day, including the commander on the ground, told Stuff Circuit they were adamant there were no insurgents in those locations.

Today's statement is the first time NZDF has conceded that may be the case.

'It is possible that the [Afghan soldiers] may be correct, and the PRT perception that there were insurgents to the West may have been caused by 'splash' or fire coming from across the valley. Contrarily, the NDS may have been unaware that there were insurgents there.'

The statement said the Court of Inquiry 'put considerable weight' on an account from a patrol leader who had climbed into the hills to the east of the battle site.

'This PRT member didn't just say he positively identified insurgents in these positions, his account is that he opened fire upon them in these positions,' the statement said.

Much of the statement sets out parts of the Court of Inquiry report or previously-released media releases.

It says that the NZDF stands by the Court of Inquiry because it presents 'the balance of evidence'.

'It was not the role of the Court of Inquiry to dismiss people's versions of events, however, it had to make conclusions in order to answer the Terms of Reference and this was done by considering all the evidence presented and reaching a balance of probability conclusion.

'The amount of time that the Court of Inquiry spent reconstructing the various scenarios based on evidence, adjusting them as new evidence was received, and then modelling the most likely scenarios was significant.'

BIOMETRIC DATA COLLECTION CONFIRMED

The Valley revealed that PRT soldiers were involved in a programme to collect biometric data for international allies and reported on overseas media claims that data from the programme had been passed to the CIA. Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told Stuff Circuit he didn't know about the programme, although he defended its use.

The statement confirms NZDF took part in the programme, but does not answer why the minister did not know. Nor did it deny the data had been passed to the CIA.

'A challenge for the NZDF is how to differentiate un-uniformed combatants from the civilian population,' said the statement. 'Where an adversary is seeking to hide among the population, biometrics can 'put the uniform back on the enemy'.'

The statement also says the documentary 'presented a narrative that New Zealanders were never told that security was an important aspect of the PRT mission'.

'The NZDF would point to a trail of statements that suggest successive Governments of the day were from the outset talking about the security aspects related to defeating terrorists and winning what was a complex counter-insurgency.'

The documentary set out how the PRT was presented as a 'hearts and minds' deployment and while it had initially been a non-combat role, the mission had changed.

Both Mapp and former Defence Force chief Rhys Jones confirmed the change in the PRT's role in interviews for the series.

Jones said the role was changed to be 'more security focused, to try and get the North Eastern province calm and peaceful so that the Bamiyan Government could exercise its control over the area'.

The current Chief of Defence, Lieutenant-General Tim Keating, refused to be interviewed for the series and refused to allow other serving soldiers to be interviewed, including those who wanted to do so.

The statement said this was because the NZDF did not trust Stuff Circuit.

'And the NZDF, consequently, didn't believe the Stuff Circuit would give NZDF's information a due consideration.'

The documentary also dealt with allegations from Afghan villagers about the events before and after the 2004 firefight in which Willie Apiata earned his Victoria Cross. The villagers told Stuff Circuit the troopers had returned the next day with bodies of the dead fighters on the front of their vehicles.

Keating said today he was gathering information about that incident and would respond later.

'This event took place 13 years ago, and we are taking time to gather all the facts, after which we will publicly respond,' he said.

Stuff Circuit approached NZDF for comment about this incident one month before the documentary was published, asking for its version of events. It never responded.

The full statement released on Friday can be read below.

NZDF Responds to the Valley by stuffnewsroom on Scribd