Decorated Australian soldier charged with war crimes vows to clear his name

AN AUSTRALIAN FORMER soldier charged with committing war crimes in Afghanistan has vowed to clear his name, saying he had never “run from a fight” in his first public comments since his arrest.

Australia’s most decorated living soldier met Queen Elizabeth II, Ben Roberts-Smith had his portrait hung at the Australian War Memorial and was honoured as the nation’s “father of the year”.

But the war hero’s reputation was called into question in 2018, when a series of news reports linked him to the alleged murder of unarmed Afghan prisoners by Australian troops.

Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff and ordered subordinates to shoot him, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He was also said to have taken part in the machine-gunning of a man who had a prosthetic limb, which he later used as a drinking vessel with other soldiers.

The Victoria Cross recipient has denied all the charges.

“For the past 10 years, my family and I have been subject to a campaign to convince Australians that I’ve acted improperly in my service in Afghanistan,” Roberts-Smith told journalists at the Gold Coast.

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“I categorically deny all of these allegations, and while I would have preferred these charges not be brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally clear my name,” he said.

Roberts-Smith was granted bail on Friday after a high-profile arrest on five counts of “war crime — murder”. Police alleged he was complicit in a string of unlawful killings between 2009 and 2012.

He had spent 10 days behind bars.

Roberts-Smith has staunchly maintained his innocence throughout, launching legal action against the newspapers that carried the allegations.

“I’m proud of my service in Afghanistan. While I was there, I always acted within my values,” he said today.

But his efforts to sue The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for defamation backfired, with a judge finding in 2023 that many of the journalists’ claims were “substantially true”.

Such civil trials carry a lower burden of proof than the criminal proceedings Roberts-Smith now faces.

Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US- and NATO-led operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.

– © AFP2026

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