While acknowledging that five people including a child had been killed during Operation Burnham, the report concluded that the NZ Defence Force had not covered up casualties and had abided by the rules of engagement and international law.

[20] According to the investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, the New Zealand provincial reconstruction team also gathered intelligence about groups and elements who were hostile to the International Security Assistance Force including the Taliban insurgency.

While Bamyan province was relatively quiet during the early 2000s, New Zealand forces encountered a string of attacks from 2008 onwards including, roadside bombs in March and November 2008, and an ambush involving guns and rocket-propelled grenades in June 2009.

[21] Between September 2009 and 31 March 2012, the NZSAS was deployed as part of counterinsurgency operations in the greater Kabul region in support of the Afghan Interior Ministry's Crisis Response Unit (Task Force 24).

According to Hager and Stephenson, the Chief of the NZDF Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae and the Defence Minister Wayne Mapp visited the NZSAS base Camp Warehouse during that period and were privy to the final stages of the preparations for Operation Burnham.

On the evening 21 August 2010, 60–70 NZSAS and Afghan CRU troops traveled in two US Chinook helicopters from Camp Warehouse to Kiwi Base in Bamyan province.

Unable to capture or eliminate the targets, the NZSAS commandos instead destroyed the insurgents' houses and the home of Naimatullah's father, who reportedly disapproved of his son's involvement in the Taliban.

Hager and Stephenson have asserted that the NZSAS troops had called the helicopters in despite knowing that there were no insurgents in the village and suggest that the commandos were motivated by a desire to avenge O'Donnell's death.

At 0030 on 22 August 2010, two helicopters carrying NZSAS and Afghan Crisis Response Unit personnel had landed on the outskirts of Tirgiran village under covering fire provided by Coalition aircraft.

On 29 August, an ISAF press release reported that a joint assessment team had determined that several rounds of ammunition from coalition helicopters had fallen short, missing the intended target and instead striking two buildings, which it speculated may have resulted in civilian casualties.

US Air Force Brigadier General Timothy M. Zadalis, the ISAF Joint Command director of plans and projects, expressed regret at the possible civilian loss of life or injury.

[58] On 20 April 2011, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp confirmed during an interview with Television New Zealand (TVNZ) journalist Guyon Espiner that the NZSAS had been involved in hunting down the Taliban insurgents behind Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell's death last year.

[64] According to Hager and Stephenson, the NZSAS had obtained video footage from a local informant of the insurgent leaders Naimatullah, Qari Miraj, Abdullah Kalta, Anwar and Abdul Ghafar attending the funerals of the villagers killed during Operation Burnham in Naik.

[65] In January 2011, NZSAS forces detained the insurgent Qari Miraj in Kabul and handed him to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's primary intelligence agency.

[71][72] Hager and Stephenson have claimed that Operation Burnham inflamed local hostility against the ISAF forces and Afghan government and boosted sympathy for the Taliban.

[73] On 21 March 2017, the investigate journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson released their book Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the meaning of honour.

Hit & Run examined the NZSAS's role during the events of Operation Burnham in August 2010, drawing upon interviews with NZ military personnel, Afghan civilians, and soldiers.

"[76] Nicky Hager is a controversial investigative journalist who had previously written several books on various topics including New Zealand's signals intelligence agency the Government Communications Security Bureau and the alleged collusion between the center-right National Party and right-wing bloggers.

[7] The New Zealand Herald investigative journalist David Fisher commented that if Hager and Stephenson's account could be proven accurate, it should spell an end to the SAS's "aura of secrecy" since the elite unit had misused it.

"[81] Meanwhile, Danyl Mclauchland observed that Hager and Stephenson's book was based on interviews on disenchanted defence staff who disliked the SAS's alleged culture of secrecy, elitism and unaccountability.

[83] The University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis opined that civilian casualties including the death of three-year old Fatima undermined public trust in the NZDF.

The press statement claimed that a joint Afghan government–ISAF investigation found that allegations of civilian casualties were "unfounded" and asserted that NZ forces had abided by the "rules of engagement.

[74][75] On 27 March, Prime Minister Bill English stated that it would be unlikely that the New Zealand Government would be holding a public inquiry into the NZSAS's actions at Operation Burnham due to alleged "major inaccuracies" in Hager and Stephenson's Hit & Run book.

[91][92] In response to further media Official Information Act requests, the New Zealand Defence Force released an info pack on presenting its version of the events of Operation Burnham on 14 March 2018.

[1][9] Hit & Run co-author Stephenson welcomed the planned inquiry but suggested that the inclusion of unseen video footage of armed individuals could "muddy the waters.

[12][13] On 20 June 2019, Hit and Run co-author Jon Stephenson backtracked on a key claim in the book that no insurgents had been present in Naik village during the NZSAS raid.

Both Naimatullah and Miraj said their involvement in the ambush of the PRT convoy that killed O'Donnell but both strenuously denied that insurgents were present at Khak Khuday Dad, the first village allegedly attacked by NZSAS forces.

[109][110] In response to this report, co-author Hager and the villagers' lawyer Manning stated that the new information confirmed their allegation that the NZSAS killed six civilians and injured 15 in the raids.

[14][15][112] On 31 July 2020, Attorney General David Parker released the Burnham Inquiry's report, which concluded that the NZ Defence Force did not plot to cover up casualties as alleged by Hager and Stephenson.

By contrast, Amnesty International New Zealand executive director Meg de Ronde described the inquiry's findings as "disturbing" and said that they raised questions about the integrity of the Defence Force.