An Afghan soldier who killed three unarmed Australians a decade ago has been brandished a “returning hero” by the Taliban who released him from prison.
Hekmatullah is now living in a luxury home in Afghanistan's capital Kabul after being released from prison and said he does not regret killing Australian soldiers and has vowed he would attack anyone who opposes the Taliban.
“If I am released I will continue killing foreigners,” Hekmatullah told an official of the former Afghan government when his release was being negotiated.
“I will continue killing Australians and I will kill you as well because you are a puppet of foreigners,” he said.
The Guardian has reported that Hekmatullah reportedly lives in the former diplomatic quarter of Wazir Akbar Khan and resides in a heavily secured property close to where Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was living before a US drone strike assassinated him nine days ago.
Hekmatullah was convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers – Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, Private Robert Poate and Sapper James Martin – as they relaxed and played games at a patrol base north of Tarin Kowt in August 2012, the militant fired more than 30 rounds from close range.
A former senior official in the ex-democratically elected government of Afghanistan confirmed to the Guardian Hekmatullah returned to Afghanistan after he was released from house arrest in Qatar, soon after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August.
“He was welcomed back to Kabul as a hero … with a house, car, guards, an amnesty for his crimes, his expenses are being paid for. He is being treated as a hero", the official said.
Australia's former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, insisted last year that Hekmatullah could not be released. But objections to his release were overruled because the US wanted to conclude its 2020 peace agreement with the Taliban.
Morrison said the soldier was “responsible for murdering three Australians and our position is that he should never be released”.
The source told the Guardian: "The person I met is a dangerous terrorist, a dangerous man. He is not repentant, not regretful. He is a threat, he can cause harm to the world. He should not have been released.”
The release of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners was very controversial but for a long time, Hekmatullah was on the list of prisoners to never be released.
In August 2020, Morrison said he spoke directly with then US president Donald Trump, urging that Hekmatullah remain imprisoned but Trump vetoed the objections.
The US said the unpopular release would lead to a “reduction of violence and direct talks resulting in a peace agreement and an end to the war” in Afghanistan.
The source also believes Hekmatullah was very well protected, with close links to senior Taliban officials now in government.
