The Ministry of Defense confirmed for the first time that UK Special Forces are at the center of a war crimes investigation in Afghanistanaccording to his publication BBC.

The State Department on Wednesday abandoned efforts to play down any report of Special Forces involvement in alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

The attitude of the Ministry of National Defense had been questioned by family members and by many media outlets, including the BBC.

The research follows reports in recent years of alleged unlawful killings by the SAS.

In a statement before the hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said: “The investigation is now reaching the stage of substantive hearings and I can confirm that the allegations relate to the conduct of UK Special Forces.”

The decision to confirm the investigation being conducted into the Special Forces units is a change of attitude on the issue by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Wallace said that Confirmation of Special Forces involvement necessitated by “the exceptional circumstances of this investigation”. “Other than in this very specific context, such a confirmation should not be seen as changing the long-standing position of this and previous governments not to comment on the deployment or activities of UK Special Forces,” he added.

The Foreign Office had previously argued that they should not see the light of the public related to the research “any evidence or documents or words or extracts from documents, tending to confirm or disprove the alleged involvement of UK Special Forces in the operations to be investigated”.

But on Monday, less than 48 hours before the case was to be heard before the inquiry’s chairman, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, lawyers for the Ministry of Defense wrote in their submission the ministry abandons this decision.

The reversal signals that evidence of UK Special Forces involvement in alleged unlawful killings in Afghanistan can be discussed openly at inquiry hearings and made public.

A long-term investigation by the BBC has revealed evidence that clearly shows that an SAS unit operating in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances in a six-month tour.

Further BBC reporting revealed specific cases of concern at the highest level of UK Special Forces, including a raid in 2012 in which a unit killed two parents and seriously injured their two toddler boys.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, continues to seek to preserve the anonymity of Special Forces personnel involved in operations in Afghanistan and all witness accounts of the operations themselves while the investigation is conducted in closed hearings.

Foreign Office lawyer Brian Altman KC also said that the ministry intended to maintain its policy “neither confirms nor denies” the naming of specific UK Special Forces units or sub-units, arguing that identifying “special elements” would pose a risk to the future capabilities of the special forces and their operations.

Lawyers for the families of Afghans killed in seven separate Special Forces operations argue that the total restrictions sought by the State Department are “unjustified and seriously damage the credibility of the investigation”.