London, July 18 (ANI): Soldiers were banned from shooting Taliban fighters planting mines to avoid waking Afghan locals, a former Royal Marine has revealed.
Craig Smith, 36, said US military chiefs routinely frustrated frontline forces by ordering them to exercise "courageous restraint".
According to the Sun, troops were even told they could be charged with murder if they shot anyone without permission from command.
Dad-of-one Craig lifted the lid on "outrageous" orders issued to troops in a diary of his six-month tour of Afghanistan's treacherous Helmand province with 40 Commando.
He spoke out after an inquest heard 34-year-old hero Sergeant Peter Rayner was blown up, just days after being told not to fire on insurgents who were seen laying deadly IEDs.
One senior officer stunned troops when he ordered them not to shoot a Taliban fighter because gunfire would "wake up and upset the locals".
Instead, they were told they must stand by and watch.
Craig, who quit the Marines in January, wrote in his diary in May last year: "After a few days it becomes apparent that when we positively identify people we cannot open fire!"
He gave examples where Taliban forces were spotted in a notorious IED area, but troops were told not to shoot, or even use mortars for illumination.
Craig, who branded the policy "an absolute outrage", added: "This course of action will end up with one of us being a casualty - and I will lay the blame with command. All these examples needed command to have some balls."
Craig, who now works for a Newcastle security firm, said: "Looking back, I can't believe how silly some of the decisions were.
A defence ministry spokesman said: "We have not seen the soldier's diary, but it could be a loose interpretation of courageous restraint." (ANI)
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