Last night I listened to an interview with the author of the article I have (hopefully) linked. I have today bought the magazine but not yet had a chance to read the article. The gist of the interview was that there was a lot more "nastiness" going on by special forces (not necessarily all Australian) than was detailed in the Brererton Report.
Now, the magazine and the author can be criticised as being "left-wing" or "left leaning", it could be argued that the Afghans are seeking compensation, or that the actions were as a result of Afghans settling local scores, however, in the interview the author answered these criticisms and others. The author has also been resident in Afghanistan since 2013 and has contact with the Taliban. One comment that was made time and time again was that the conduct of special forces in Uruzgan Province was one of the best recruiting actions possible.
I am not making any claims regarding the truth of the allegations raised in the article, however, after reading several books by David Kilcullen on counterinsurgency where he makes the point time and time again that a purely military response will lead to overkill and cause massive resentment and often leads to a worsened situation. It also shows a massive lack of understanding of the local situation.
Anyway, the link:
The Monthly: The Worst Form Of Defence