The documents covered a wide range of topics, however most notably it detailed multiple cases of possible unlawful killings of unarmed men and children.
This incident allegedly sparked agitation from the Afghan authorities, who threatened to stop working with Australia unless the killing of unarmed civilians ceased.
[1] The files provided insight into the response of the ADF over, and background of an incident in which an SAS soldier severed the hands of an Afghan insurgent for identification confirmation purposes.
[7] Preceding the event, the special forces were searching for an Australian National Priority Target codenamed "Objective Rapier", a senior insurgent commander responsible for numerous terrorist attacks.
[8] Members of the troop pointed blame to an official training session held just nine days prior, in which two experts explicitly sanctioned the removal of hands.
[11][12] On 5 June 2019, the Australian Federal Police raided the Sydney based headquarters of the ABC over a period of eight hours,[3] reportedly over the Afghan Files.
[17][18] In February 2020 the case was dismissed by the federal court,[19] and the AFP began the process of accessing the confiscated files while the ABC rushed to get an injunction.