A suicide bombing in Afghanistan left David Savage with life-changing injuries. More than a decade later, the Soldier On Ambassador is still speaking out about the consequences of the conflict – including what happened to the Afghan people who worked alongside Australian personnel.
David Savage AM was an experienced police officer and international investigator when he went to Afghanistan as an AusAID stabilisation adviser in 2011.
After 20 years with the Australian Federal Police, his work had taken him into international peacekeeping and human rights investigations, including work with the United Nations. In Afghanistan, he joined a Provincial Reconstruction Team operating in Uruzgan province, where civilian advisers and military personnel worked together in a region affected by decades of conflict.
On 26 March 2012, a suicide bomber struck the patrol David was travelling with in the Chora Valley. The explosion almost killed him and badly wounded two US servicemembers.
David sustained 64 ball-bearing and shrapnel wounds, a traumatic brain injury and serious psychological injuries. His right leg began to fail while he was recovering in hospital, and he became unable to walk.
The consequences extended well beyond the initial injuries. David could no longer work, and his wife left her job to care for him.
But his story did not end there. After years of rehabilitation and trying different devices, a computer-controlled leg brace gave David the ability to walk again. In 2022, he told the ABC that he had been able to walk unassisted within a week of trying the C-Brace. A month later, he walked almost a kilometre to his local shops.
His recovery was driven in part by a promise he had made to his daughter, Belinda: he would walk her down the aisle at her wedding.
David’s experience is one part of Australia’s Afghanistan story. His injuries changed his life, but his reflections on the conflict also encompass the people he served alongside, the Afghan colleagues who worked with Australian personnel and the questions he believes remain unanswered about Australia’s withdrawal.
As the country marks 25 years since the beginning of Australian service in Afghanistan, David will attend the national commemorative service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He will be there with former military and civilian colleagues, as well as Yonis, the Afghan interpreter who was with him when the bombing occurred.
‘We keep in close touch, but he’s in Melbourne, so I don’t get to see him that often,’ David said. ‘To share this with him and the fact that he’s come up is really important.’
The attack and the search for answers
The Provincial Reconstruction Team David worked with was returning from a visit to the district governor when a 12-year-old boy approached the patrol and detonated an explosive device.
In a 2019 interview with the ABC, David recalled his perceptions of the aftermath.
‘At first, I actually thought that I was dead,’ he said.
An Australian surgeon later compared the severity of his wounds to being shot eight times with a shotgun at close range. Alongside the physical injuries, the traumatic brain injury and psychological effects created a long and difficult recovery.
David also became involved in a prolonged dispute with Defence over the investigation into the bombing.
He believed the inquiry had failed to properly consider evidence about the circumstances of the attack, including footage recorded by a helmet camera. In its 2019 investigation, the ABC reported that other people it interviewed also questioned aspects of the inquiry’s findings.
Defence maintained that it was confident due process had been followed.
David’s concern was not only about his own case. His career had involved investigating human rights abuses and war crimes, often seeking answers for people who had experienced serious harm. He questioned why evidence he believed was important had not been properly addressed and what this meant for other injured personnel and the families of Australians killed on operations.
David said the process had been psychologically damaging and had delayed his recovery.
The dispute became another burden to manage while he was dealing with the consequences of the bombing. His experience also raised questions for him about accountability and whether those affected by serious incidents could rely on investigations to establish what happened.
The struggle to walk again
For years after the bombing, David’s right leg remained severely impaired. His rehabilitation involved extensive physiotherapy and attempts to find a device that could help him walk.
By 2020, despite years of work, he was still unable to take even a few steps. His physiotherapist, Anne Freeman, suggested trialling a C-Brace, a computer-controlled leg orthosis developed by German medical technology company Ottobock.
The brace uses microprocessors to sense the position of the leg and control movement around the knee. It can help people with certain mobility impairments stand, walk and manage stairs.
David and his physiotherapist regarded it as a last chance to regain the ability to walk.
The trial was nerve-racking. The device had to be activated successfully for it to work with his injury. When David first tried it, the expected sound did not come. The representative fitting the brace had forgotten to switch the sound on.
Once it was activated, David could begin working with the technology.
Within a week, he was walking unassisted. A month later, he walked almost a kilometre from home to his local shops.
In 2022, he spoke about how significant the change had been.
‘It’s life-changing. It’s incredible,’ he said.
The breakthrough also brought him closer to fulfilling the promise he had made to his daughter.
‘I’ll be definitely ready to walk Belinda down the aisle now – it’s going to be a very proud, proud moment.’
David wanted to share his experience because he knew how much hope it had given him to see another person with a similar injury walk again. He hoped that other people who had not heard of the technology might learn that it could be an option for them.
His experience is an important part of the story of what happened after Afghanistan. The injuries remained serious, and recovery took years, but advances in rehabilitation technology gave him an opportunity he had once thought might be out of reach.
The people left behind
David’s concerns about Afghanistan extend beyond the bombing and his recovery.
As coalition forces prepared to withdraw, he believed the Afghan government would struggle to survive without their support. When the government fell in August 2021, he was troubled by what he saw as a lack of preparation by Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and other coalition partners.
‘What upset a lot of us was the lack of preparation for it to happen by Australia, US, UK, everyone,’ he said.
He has been involved in advocacy for locally engaged employees – Afghan people who worked alongside Australian personnel during the conflict.
These employees were part of the work carried out in Afghanistan. Many developed close relationships with Australian colleagues and worked in difficult and dangerous circumstances. When the political situation changed, some faced serious risks because of their association with coalition forces.
David believes Australia was poorly prepared for the consequences of the Afghan government’s collapse. He acknowledges that many locally engaged employees have since reached Australia, but says others have not.
For veterans who worked closely with Afghan colleagues, the uncertainty has been personal. They know the people involved and may have remained in contact with them long after leaving Afghanistan. Some have continued to advocate for those still seeking safety.
David believes the situation has compounded the emotional burden carried by some veterans. He describes this as a form of ‘moral injury’ – distress that can arise when events or decisions conflict with a person’s deeply held sense of what is right.
For him, the issue is directly connected to Australia’s experience in Afghanistan. It concerns what happened to people who helped Australian personnel do their work and what responsibility remains after an operation ends.
His advocacy reflects a belief that the experiences of locally engaged employees should not be separated from the history of the mission or the people who served in it.
How his perspective has changed
David says his view of Afghanistan has changed over time. Like many who served, he has had ups and downs in how he assesses the conflict and its outcome.
He compares Afghanistan with his earlier experience in East Timor, where he worked before the violence surrounding the country’s path to independence. Despite the destruction and suffering, he could see a positive outcome in East Timor’s independence.
Afghanistan has been more difficult to reconcile.
David believed the Afghan government was likely to fall without coalition support. Its collapse left him questioning why governments had not done more to prepare for the consequences, particularly for the people who had worked alongside coalition personnel.
His concerns now include the treatment of locally engaged employees, the effects on Australian veterans and the long-term consequences of the withdrawal.
These are issues he continues to raise as a Soldier On Ambassador, drawing on his experience and his relationships with people who served in Afghanistan.
Commemorating 25 years
David supports the decision to hold a national commemoration marking 25 years of Australian service in Afghanistan.
He reflected on how Vietnam veterans waited many years for formal national recognition, following years of lobbying for a commemorative event. He sees value in acknowledging the experiences of those who served in Afghanistan, including civilian personnel whose contributions may be less familiar to the public.
He also recognises that the fall of Kabul remains painful for many people who were involved. For David and some of his colleagues, it was a deeply distressing period that prompted questions about the purpose and outcome of their work.
The anniversary will bring together people who served in different roles, along with families and others affected by the conflict.
David expects the commemoration to be a positive occasion, although he is wary of suggesting that one event can provide a neat resolution to the experiences of those who served.
‘I hate the word closure or journey and all that kind of stuff,’ he said. ‘But I think it will be a really positive day.’
For David, the anniversary is an opportunity to recognise those who served and reconnect with colleagues, while continuing to raise concerns about the people who worked alongside them in Afghanistan.
Read more about David Savage AM, Soldier On Ambassador: soldieron.org.au/people/david-savage
