Insight explores what happens when you uncover a war mystery in your family? Tuesday, 8:30pm, September 15 on SBS and On Demand.
It’s a date forever etched in Matthew French’s memory. On August 29, 2012, the former Australian soldier was ‘guardian angel’ on duty, when three of his comrades from 3RAR Task Group were murdered in cold blood by a rogue Afghan soldier.
“We were all taking turns to put on our body armour and patrol the facility. It was my turn. The boys were playing cards, relaxing,” Matthew French told SBS Insight.
“I had my back turned, I remember saying a few words to Milo (Lance Corporal Stjepan “Rick” Milosevic), when all of a sudden, in a split second, ‘bang, bang, bang’. I thought it was fireworks.”
Lance Corporal Milosevic, Sapper James Martin and Private Robert Poate were all killed in the “green on blue” attack at their base at Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province.
Afghan National Army (ANA) sergeant, Hekmatullah, who was embedded with the Australians, had opened fire on the men when they were off duty and not wearing body armour. He then fled.
“Our mission then was to find this guy. We still had blood on our boots. Not only were we scanning for the enemy, looking at the ground for IEDs, now we were also worried about the bloke next to us putting a bullet in our backs,” Matthew French said.
From left to right, Sapper James Martin, Lance Corporal Milosevic, and Private Robert Poate who were killed in Afghanistan. Source: Australian Defence Force
Hekmatullah was eventually captured by Pakistani forces and taken into custody, where he has remained for seven years. But his release looked imminent, under a peace deal struck in February between the USA, the Afghan Government and the Taliban.
The deal saw agreement for the withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of 5,000 Taliban and Afghan prisoners.
Hekmatullah was expected to be among the final 400 insurgents to be released last week, ahead of talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban.
“That was a bitter pill to swallow,” Mr French said. “I’m conflicted, because I do believe the troops should be home, but also that Hekmatullah shouldn’t be let go.”
But on Friday, September 11, the Australian Government confirmed Hekmatullah had not been released. Instead, he was flown to Qatar, along with five other “sensitive” prisoners responsible for the deaths of Coalition soldiers, or civilian humanitarian workers, in insider attacks.
“Australia has worked hard with the United States, the Government of Afghanistan and other nations, including the British and French Governments… to keep Hekmatullah in detention, and to keep these six sensitive prisoners separate from the wider goodwill agreement,” Foreign Affairs Minister, Marise Payne and Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds said in a joint statement.
Matt French on duty. Source: Supplied
“Justice and peace are not incompatible. Both have a place in peace arrangements.”
While details of how long the six prisoners will be detained in Qatar remain unclear, Matthew French is pleased that the Afghan Government has not released Hekmatullah under the US-brokered deal.
“It killed me to think that Hekmatullah would be walking free, so I’m super happy that they appear to have listened to the concerns of the Australian Government, and that he will remain in custody,” he told Insight.
“But the war in Afghanistan needs to come to an end. You have to bring the Taliban to the table, so I am happy with the policy.”
