Aaron Patrick and his book The Last Battle Photo: Supplied
The battle at Shah Wali Kot is regarded as the most significant in Australia’s twenty-year engagement in Afghanistan.
Much has been written about the conflict, but now a senior Australian journalist has published the first detailed account of the offensive.
The battle involved special forces troops and commandoes and 100 Taliban fighters were killed, but no Australian troops died.
41 Australian soldiers lost their lives during the whole time they were deployed in Afghanistan.
It was also the conflict that lead to a Victoria Cross for Corporal Ben Roberts Smith, who went from a being a lauded, to a destroyed, national hero.
He lost a defamation case he'd brought against media outlets who alleged he was guilty of illegal killings, or complicity in killings, during his time in Afghanistan - in events separate to the battle at Shah Wali Kot.
Aaron Patrick is the chief writer at the daily digital newspaper, The Nightly, and he was previously deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.
His book - The Last Battle - our greatest victory in our longest war - has just been published.
