AUSTRALIA is preparing to send hundreds more troops to Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan province, where deadly contacts with Taliban fighters have escalated in recent months. By the middle of next year, Australia - whether under a Labor or Coalition government - will have more troops on the ground in Afghanistan than it does in Iraq.| You can always count on the Australians. |
Australia has about 970 military in Afghanistan, including infantry and special forces as well as an RAAF air traffic control group based at Kandahar. The final figure next year will depend on how many troops the Dutch withdraw, and to what extent Australians fill the gap.
Australian ministers have held discussions with NATO and Dutch ministers in the past two weeks as the Dutch cabinet prepares to finalise a partial withdrawal from Kamp Holland, where there are about 700 Australian troops. The need to "backfill" any Dutch vacancy with other NATO and Australian troops comes as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday promised to bring 1000 troops home from Iraq by Christmas.
Responding to a survey by Sydney University's US Studies Centre on the American alliance and the commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, John Howard said yesterday he understood the deployments were not popular. "This inevitably happens if a military commitment goes on for a long period of time - even if, thankfully, to date our casualties have been minimal - people after a time grow weary of it and think because it's not quickly concluded, it must be wrong," the Prime Minister told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"I understand why people feel that way but it really does present our society with a huge challenge because that is exactly what the terrorists calculate."
In relation to the British drawdown of forces in Iraq, Mr Howard said: "We will take our forces out as conditions improve. Over time I see our forces (in Iraq) taking on an even greater role, relatively speaking, in relation to training."
In contrast, Labor is committed to
The Howard Government has said the military commitment to Afghanistan would peak at 1000 troops in the middle of next year. Kevin Rudd has declared that as prime minister he would increase the deployment.
So far the Government has not received a formal request from The Netherlands and has not lifted its ceiling, but the Dutch have been considering withdrawing some of their 1300 troops in Afghanistan for some time. The Dutch coalition cabinet has had to move slowly, but a decision is expected soon.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson warned a Dutch parliamentary committee in Kabul two months ago that a withdrawal of key elements, such as Apache helicopters, without replacement by other NATO forces would mean Australia would withdraw its 370 engineers working on reconstruction near Tarin Kowt. Dr Nelson told the Dutch MPs that Australian troops, including special forces patrolling in Oruzgan, owed their lives to Dutch air cover, which had been called in during a firefight late last month between an Australian patrol and 50 Taliban, during which a young Australian soldier was hit twice but was saved by his body armour.
Dr Nelson said yesterday the British plan to send 1000 soldiers in Iraq home by Christmas, leaving 4500 based at the main airport on the fringe of the southern city of Basra, was in line with British and US planning.
Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the British announcement had no bearing on the Australian commitment.