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At least 11 people are known to have died after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in western Afghanistan. Provincial officials originally said four people had been killed in the attack in the Enjil district of Herat province on Friday, but later said that seven more people who were critically injured had also died. No group has claimed responsibility so far. "Unidentified armed men" riding motorcycles opened fire near the village of Deh Mehri, an interior ministry spokesperson said. The recreational area is usually crowded on Fridays. A Herat doctor told the BBC that the victims - who were...

Two of the five men Ben Roberts-Smith is accused of murdering while serving with the Special Air Service in Afghanistan have never been identified by war crimes investigators. Court documents seen by the Daily Mail show one of the Victoria Cross recipient's alleged victims is described only as 'Person Under Control 1', or alternatively 'Enemy Killed in Action 3'. Roberts-Smith is accused of murdering that Afghan male with another SAS soldier dubbed 'Person 68' at Syahchow in Uruzgan Province on October 20, 2012. Another alleged victim who is only known to authorities as 'Person Under Control 2' or 'Enemy Killed...

Violence has begun to feel routine in Pakistan, a grim normalization that reflects a deeper and more dangerous reality: the country’s security situation has deteriorated sharply, marking the sixth consecutive year of rising terrorism. The Global Terrorism Index 2026, released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, crystallizes this trend with stark clarity. While the world as a whole recorded a substantial fall in terrorism deaths by 28 percent and attacks by nearly 22 percent, Pakistan moved in the opposite direction. For the first time, it ranked number one on the index, recording 1,139 terrorism‑related deaths in 2025, a six...

Former SAS soldiers warn the prolonged war crimes investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith threatens to create life or death hesitation for troops in combat situations.The father of an Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan has questioned why a dedicated team of investigators has spent six years building a case against Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith while his son’s killer remains free.It comes as former SAS soldiers warn the Office of the Special Investigator’s (OSI) prolonged investigation into alleged war crimes is causing mental health issues to military families and creating life or death issues for soldiers in combat.Hugh Poate’s son Robert was...

An SAS digger who single-handedly took out three Taliban machine gunners will today receive Australia's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. The soldier, known only as Corporal Ben, will receive his medal from Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Perth's Campbell Barracks. Also attending will be Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Defence Minister Stephen Smith, Defence Force Chief Angus Houston and Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett. Corporal Ben is reported to have earned the VC by his actions during the intense gun battle in Afghanistan's Shah Wali Kot region last October. In the fight, Corporal Ben charged the enemy...

THE second SAS soldier in two years will be awarded the nation's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross for Australia. Governor-General Quentin Bryce and senior political leaders including Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will travel to Perth this Sunday for the investiture ceremony at Campbell Barracks... Rumours have been circulating for some time that an un-named SAS corporal engaged in an intense battle in the Shah Wali Kot region of Northern Kandahar last October could be nominated. A special forces group came under withering fire and four Commandos were wounded, including one...

EVEN heroes have their heroes. For Victoria Cross holder Ben Roberts-Smith, the benchmark for valour was set by his mate Sergeant Locke. The Special Air Service Regiment corporal says Locke's courage probably saved his life and stopped a heavily outnumbered Australian patrol being overrun on a mountain top in Afghanistan late one afternoon in 2006. "He was a very, very brave person, Matt, in every sense of the word," Roberts-Smith says. When Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross of Australia for his extraordinary charge into a Taliban machine-gun position in June last year, it brought an unexpected burden: the weight...

Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith quit his corporate job Friday after a civil court blamed him for unlawfully killing four Afghans, escalating calls for the tarnished national hero to be stripped of his revered Victoria Cross medal. Roberts-Smith, who retired from Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment a decade ago, quit his job as state manager of Seven West Media after losing a landmark defamation suit Thursday against newspapers that had accused him of an array of war crimes. The 44-year-old had taken leave since 2021 to focus on his federal court case, which has been financed...

Australian war hero Ben Roberts-Smith said he would not encourage potential recruits to join the armed forces because of the lack of support veterans receive. The former soldier believes the heads of the Australian Defence Force are putting themselves ahead of servicemen and not providing the assistance that veterans need. The 41-year-old told The Daily Telegraph he would not endorse young people going into the military without a major shakeup in leadership. 'My opinion is the Australian Defence Force needs good young Australians… but when you look at what is happening at the moment it gives me pause to think,...

SAS Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith is Australia’s 98th Victoria Cross holder after the bronze cross with crimson ribbon was pinned to his chest by Governor General Quentin Bryce in Perth today. During a formal investiture ceremony at the picturesque beachside headquarters of the SAS at Campbell Barracks, Swanbourne, Corporal Roberts-Smith became only the second Australian soldier to wear the Victoria Cross of Australia after Corporal Mark Donaldson who received the honour in 2009. Before 1991 it was an Imperial Honour that was won by 96 Australians from the Boer War to Vietnam. He is only the second Western Australian born holder...

Australia’s most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith faces five war crimes murder charges, but a retired army Colonel and ADF legal expert claims prosecutors will struggle to secure a conviction.Prosecutors squaring up against the nation’s most decorated soldier will struggle to get a successful war crimes conviction regardless of the quality of the evidence, according to a retired colonel of the Australian Army Legal Corps.Bruce Levet, who served the Australian Army Legal Corps until 2022, told The Daily Telegraph he did not believe Victoria Cross recipient and former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith would be convicted of five counts of...

A retired US Navy SEAL has interrupted a live television interview about Donald Trump and the war in Iran to call for the release of Australia's most decorated soldier, who was arrested over alleged war crimes. Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, will face court on Wednesday after being charged with two counts of the war crime of murder and three counts of aiding or abetting the same charge. The maximum penalty for the charges is life imprisonment. The Victoria Cross recipient, who spent the night in custody, is accused of murdering unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, as...

War crime murder charges carry potential sentence of life in prisonAustralia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, faces war crime charges on allegations he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday. Police have not confirmed the name of the 47-year-old former soldier who was arrested on Tuesday. But he has been widely reported in the media to be Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment corporal who was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan. Police charged him on Tuesday with...

One of Australia's most decorated soldiers, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been arrested and is expected to be charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.The Victoria Cross recipient was arrested at Sydney Airport's domestic terminal after a flight from Brisbane this morning.The former special forces soldier's arrest comes after a mammoth defamation trial against Nine Newspapers that in 2023 ended in a court finding that on the balance of probabilities, allegations he was responsible for, or complicit in the deaths of four detainees in Afghanistan were substantially true.There have been no findings of guilt against Mr Roberts-Smith to a...

The mastermind behind a chilling plot to assassinate Donald Trump and an Iranian-American journalist has been unmasked by DailyMail.com as a father-of-five whose brother is a 'die-hard' MAGA supporter. Farhad Shakeri, 51, was revealed to have admitted to orchestrating the terrifying scheme which was thwarted by the FBI and involved three alleged hitmen who were hired by the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out a hit on the president-elect. The would-be-assassin previously lived in the US, being brought up in Manassas, Virginia, from the age of nine along with his six siblings after their parents moved the...

NATO endures on American backing while many allies demand U.S. action abroad but withhold it when asked, exposing a widening gap between rhetoric and responsibility. NATO members are not legally required to join any member’s military operations that are not formally sanctioned by the alliance or not aimed at protecting the homelands of the membership. But they often do just that. Some NATO members joined the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq on the theory that, in the post-9/11 environment, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein were dangers to all Western security. They followed the precedent set by America’s 1999 intervention in...

War is never something the United States should engage in without very good cause. Too many of our past wars might have involved some bit of national interest, but they weren't really necessary. Kicking the crap out of Afghanistan following the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden? I got that completely. I was less thrilled with us going into Iraq. My take has always been that we should be slow to anger, but when we hit that point, we should descend upon our enemies like the fiery hand of God. It's what we did in the Gulf War,...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan said Sunday it targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region overnight, as the fighting that erupted between the two neighbors late last month showed no signs of abating.

Osama bin Laden is dead, according to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari. This week he stunned the world with the exciting news that Pakistan's intelligence services have "obviously" concluded that bin Laden "does not exist any more, that he is dead."

Video August 2007 AFL-CIO Presidential Forum Obama puts a spin on his early remarks about invading Pakistan, and then claims the the American people should have a say in shaping our nation's foreign policy. Both he and Hillary Clinton speak of the importance of fighting Al Queda. Hillary Clinton said, " The last thing we need is to have Al Queda like followers in charge of Pakistan." Is it now OK to have Al Queda in charge of Libya? Now Obama is aiding Al Queda, a sworn enemy of the United States, in the overthrow of the sovereign nation of...