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David McBride is a former military lawyer in the Royal Australia Regiment and Australia Special Forces. He completed two tours in Afghanistan and submitted an internal complaint against what he witnessed in the war. He immediately faced scrutiny and harassment.

A few years later, David found journalists with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation who were willing to listen to him. They were interested in classified documents that showed the reality of Australia’s involvement in the war.

What David had to reveal was published as “The Afghan Files.” It was a “quite a big story in Australia,” according to him. But the Australia government responded by raiding the ABC and targeting David with a prosecution for an espionage offense.

In this episode from the “Unauthorized Disclosure” podcast, which Kevin Gosztola typically co-hosts with Rania Khalek, Kevin speaks with David about his deployments to Afghanistan. He shares his view on how the last several weeks, as the United States withdrew forces and then mounted an unprecedented evacuation effort with a mostly cooperative Taliban.

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