Mr Ghani’s office revealed in a statement that Foreign Minister Marise Payne had written to her counterpart and “extended apologies for the misconduct identified by the inquiry, by some Australian military personnel in Afghanistan”. Senator Payne’s office has confirmed this.
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The statement from Mr Ghani’s office also says Mr Morrison expressed “deepest sorrow” over the misconduct of some troops. However, the Prime Minister’s office says the purpose of the conversation was to make the President aware of the report, not to apologise.
“You can expect us to deal with this in accordance with Australian law, but you can also expect us to deal with it understanding the full context of these alleged actions,” Mr Morrison told Sunrise.
“What is in this report, which will be released by the CDF [Chief of the Defence Force] relates to some specific behaviour in a section of our ADF. And we’ve already, as you probably seen, many special forces, ex-service people have expressed their concerns about this and how this doesn’t reflect the broader culture or the broader reputation of the ADF.”
A read-out of the call provided by the Prime Minister’s office says: “President Ghani appreciated the direct contact, noted the many Australians who had served with distinction in Afghanistan and said he was counting on Australia’s justice system to follow up on these matters.”
