An Australian veteran has been charged for the alleged murder of an Afghan man, following an investigation into war crimes.

The 41-year-old man was arrested in New South Wales and identified by Australian Broadcasting Corp as former Special Air Service Regiment trooper Oliver Schulz.

“It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan,” a statement from Australian Federal Police read.

His arrest is the first after a military report published in 2020 found evidence that Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians.

The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers who served in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016 face criminal investigation.

If convicted, Schulz faces a potential life sentence in prison.

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Helmet footage broadcast by ABC in 2020 described a soldier they named as Schulz as shooting an Afghan man in a wheat field in the Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan, back in 2012.

He is expected to appear before a court in Sydney within days, where a magistrate will consider whether he be released on bail.

Australia was part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghanistan security forces and fought the Taliban.

During the 20 years that Australian forces were present in the country, until their withdrawal in 2021, more than 39,000 military personnel served there, and 41 were killed.

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