THE “execution” of an unarmed civilian in Afghanistan by a member of Australia’s SAS must put paid to the notion that the war there is a peacekeeping operation, a leading peace campaigner has warned.

Video footage obtained this week by documentary makers Four Corners show the soldier shooting the unarmed man three times in the head and chest at close range in 2012.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German told the Morning Star that what a fellow Australian SAS member has termed a “straight-up execution” illustrated the injustice of the US-led presence in Afghanistan, which continues 19 years after the 2001 invasion.

“This is an unlawful killing carried out by troops who should never have been there.

“The Afghan war has helped increase the threat of terrorism and has created incidents like these which are bitterly resented by the local population. Time to get all Western troops out and end this war on one of the poorest countries in the world.”

An Australian Defence Force investigation ruled the killing was in self-defence, but the footage, obtained from the helmet camera of the SAS unit’s dog handler, shows that victim Dad Mohammad, thought to be in his mid-20s, was on the ground clutching a set of prayer beads when he was killed.

The killer “Soldier C” is recorded asking his commander twice: “You want me to drop this c***?” before killing the young man, whose father Abdul Malik told Four Corners, was married with two children. The commander’s response cannot be heard.