The news that the SAS was being investigated over allegations its soldiers had executed scores of unarmed captives in Afghanistan – and its officers had covered up the evidence – broke like a bombshell in 2017. Almost overnight, elite British soldiers, long considered heroes, found themselves rebranded as war criminals.

Blades lifts the lid on Special Forces operations in Afghanistan, revealing a fuller picture – one that is rarely acknowledged. Government-imposed restrictions meant the enemy’s bomb-makers, responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians, could not legally be shot, nor detained beyond a few days. SAS soldiers, undermined by their government and their generals, faced an agonising dilemma: obey the rules and let colleagues and innocents be killed or enact frontier justice and face accusations of war crimes.

Addressing Operation Northmoor – the furthest-reaching and most sensitive UK military police investigation ever undertaken – in full for the first time, Blades exposes how detectives faced a wall of silence and collusion by senior officers and found vital evidence destroyed. Drawing on thorough research, an exclusive interview with an SAS soldier who pulled the trigger during the contested operations and decades of experience covering military and foreign affairs, Mark Nicol offers a vital corrective to false reporting on Afghanistan, one that forces us to confront an uncomfortable question: when the rules of engagement make a soldier’s job impossible, who should be held accountable for what happens next?

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Reviews

“No one could be better placed to write this important book than Mark Nicol, a giant amongst Fleet Street defence correspondents. Although much of Blades reads like a thriller, every word is true. It leaves one breathless in admiration and pride at the courage and professionalism of our special forces but hot with shame that they are presently under such threat from the lawfare of human rights lawyers who have a total stranglehold over His Majesty’s Government. No foreign enemy has been able to overwhelm and destroy the SAS, but, as Nicol proves, today that danger comes from within Whitehall and Westminster.”

Andrew Roberts, historian and author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

“This is a timely and important book that gives crucial insight into SAS operations in Afghanistan and a voice to those from whom we seldom hear. Without the Special Forces community, Britain cannot defend her interests or her people. Their country demands of them sacrifice and professionalism. Blades rightly shows that, in return, they should expect clarity, legal frameworks that are fit for purpose and accountable leadership from the whole chain of command.”

Penny Mordaunt, former Secretary of State for Defence

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