Coalition forces in Afghanistan, including Australian Special Forces acted under instruction from the Coalition to engage in missions to kill high value targets who appeared on a sanctioned liquidation list - the Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL).

These were high value targets, Directly Participating in Hostilities (DPH).

The parameters for the JPEL were fairly broad:

Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton authorised drone and missile strikes with the intent purpose of killing people on the JPEL.

I'm told that direct operations by Special Forces in the field was preferred to missile strikes, due to the obvious risks in target identification and killing adjacent civilians.

We are going to exercise caution in commenting on this topic.

Here is an extract from a Coalition Special Forces briefing on the issue - in this case it's the New Zealand Special Forces.

What are the odds Obama or Hillary Clinton will be charged?