Decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith joined Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Sunday (11) to mark 25 years since the start of the military campaign in Afghanistan. More than 35,000 Australian Defence Force personnel deployed to the conflict over two decades, during which 47 soldiers died and 263 were wounded.
Roberts-Smith, who holds the Victoria Cross as Australia‘s most decorated living soldier, attended the ceremony under modified bail conditions granted by a judge that allowed him to travel from Brisbane to Canberra. The former Special Air Service Regiment corporal faces five criminal charges of murder as war crimes concerning the deaths of unarmed detainees in Afghanistan, accusations he denies. The charges followed an arrest in April 2026, though a date for his criminal trial has not been set.
Accompanied by his partner, Sarah Matulin, Roberts-Smith laid a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance alongside approximately 600 veterans, families, and officials gathered under morning sunshine at the national memorial.
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Anthony Albanese addresses veterans at the Australian War Memorial
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered the commemorative address, recalling the launch of Operation Slipper on October 11, 2001, following the terrorist attacks in the United States. Speaking before former leaders and service members, Albanese emphasized that Australian personnel entered the theater to assist an ally and protect fundamental rights. “In New York, fires were still burning at Ground Zero from the September 11 attacks a month earlier. The world felt upended,” Albanese stated during the ceremony. “Yet Australia did what is so resolutely in our nature. We went to support our friend and ally. We went because we saw what was at stake, and we went on the principle that September 11 was an attack on a way of life that belonged just as much to us.”
Dignitaries at the Canberra event included Governor-General Sam Mostyn, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, and former prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott, and Scott Morrison. Howard led the federal government when troops were initially dispatched in 2001. Federal Liberal lawmaker Andrew Hastie, a fellow Special Air Service veteran who testified against Roberts-Smith in a previous defamation proceeding, also attended and laid a wreath.
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Australia reflects on 25 years of military operations in Afghanistan
Australian military commitments in the region began with Operation Slipper and later transitioned to Operation Highroad, which ran from 2015 until 2021. The long-running mission ended with the final withdrawal and evacuation airlift from Kabul on August 1, 2021, when allied forces departed and the Taliban regained administrative control of Afghanistan. Simultaneous memorial services marking the 25-year milestone took place on Sunday at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park in Sydney and the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
Former lance corporal Mathew Bell, an infantry soldier who deployed to a forward base west of Tarinkot in 2012, described the service as a meaningful effort that brought healthcare, education, and local freedom to communities. “We changed that little part of Afghanistan, that little part of the world for good,” Bell said. Roberts-Smith remains on conditional bail as legal authorities determine the schedule for his criminal proceedings.
