THE SQUIZ
A former Afghan fighter serving with government forces who killed 3 unarmed Australian soldiers in August 2012 is living as a free man in Kabul, according to The Guardian. Hekmatullah has returned to the nation’s capital and is living in a luxury home after being treated as a “returning hero” by the Taliban. He also told an official from the former Afghan Government that he would “continue killing foreigners”, including Australians, if he was released, the report says.

DO I KNOW THIS GUY?
It was a couple of years ago, but there was a flurry of reporting when the US and Taliban were negotiating a peace deal. One of the Taliban’s conditions was the release of 5,000 Afghan prisoners – including 6 truly terrible terrorists, including Hakmatullah. In short, he was a sergeant in the Afghan National Army when he murdered Lance Corporal Stjepan ‘Rick’ Milosevic, Sapper James Martin, and Private Robert Poate and injured two other Australians while playing cards inside their Tarin Kowt base in Uruzgan province. He fled but was captured in Quetta, Pakistan, in 2013. Hekmatullah confessed to the killings – and vowed to do the same again if given a chance. He was convicted by the Afghan Supreme Court and handed a death sentence but avoided execution for more than 6 years. And in the wheeling and dealing, he was sent to Qatar and released last year – moves fiercely opposed by Australia.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
A bit is going on with the new government following America’s assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul a week ago, which has heightened Taliban security fears. All that’s playing out as the anniversary of the fall of Kabul comes around next week. As for a reaction to the report that Hekmatullah is living his best life, the Australian Government hasn’t commented. It was 2 years ago that the families of the murdered Australian soldiers said news of Hekmatullah’s release was devastating. “Hekmatullah should have been executed – as was his sentence from the highest court of­ ­Afghanistan – not released,” they said at the time.