Ali Jan’s wife,Bibi Dhorko,said:“I want justice because I have been widowed ... my children are now helpless.” She said Ali Jan was a family man and a farmer with no involvement in the violence in the badlands of Southern Afghanistan. “He didn’t side with anyone and never had a gun. He was living in the mountain and doing his work,only going occasionally to the village if we needed any supplies.”

He was one of around fifty male villagers from Darwan who was arrested by the SAS during a sweep through the small village as they searched for rogue Afghan army sergeant Hekmatullah,who weeks earlier had murdered three Australian soldiers.

'Moral courage'

Prominent MP Andrew Hastie,a former SAS Captain and Afghan veteran,along with two SAS insiders,called on the Australian public to back the work of the defence force Inspector-General who is investigating alleged war crimes.

The revelation of the AFP trip to Afghanistan comes after ABC reports that the defence force Inspector-General sent Supreme Court of Appeal judge Paul Brereton and investigators to Kabul to also gather evidence about events at Darwan.

While not commenting on any specific allegations,Mr Hastie said the Brereton inquiry was only focusing on serious incidents - such asalleged summary executions of prisoners - and not"fog of war"incidents,as claimed by critics of the inquiry.

Mr Hastie also backed the defence force chief Angus Campbell for calling the inquiry and the SAS witnesses who had given evidence. “This has been driven from the ground up. This isn't some witch hunt from above. It's operators with moral courage who've spoken up.”

Mr Hastie’s comments have been backed by serving and former members of the SAS,who said most soldiers in the regiment welcomed scrutiny and accountability. The AFP’s trip to Afghanistan is the first time the agency has ever deployed detectives overseas to investigate alleged war crimes involving Australian soldiers.

A federal police spokesperson has confirmed that"investigators recently deployed to Afghanistan in support of the war crimes investigations. The AFP were supported by Afghanistan authorities in country and inquiries with international partners remain ongoing."

The revelation that federal agents are seeking to corroborate eyewitness testimony from SAS soldiers or support staff with first hand accounts of Afghans at the scene of the alleged atrocity at Darwan suggests the AFP is undertaking an exhaustive search for witnesses.

The Age,the Heraldand 60 Minutes have revealed over the weekend new details of other alleged war crimes allegations involving Australian special forces.Commando and SAS soldiers have confessed to executing detainees in Afghanistan, in flagrant breach of the law.

The Brereton Inquiry — conducted under the auspices of military Inspector-General James Gaynor — is separate to the investigation by the federal police,although both probes have been collecting evidence about Darwan.

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