DEFENCE Minister Robert Hill today gave a strong indication Australia was considering boosting its troop commitment to troubled Afghanistan. Senator Hill said Australia's armed forces had more flexibility to contribute to Afghanistan now other commitments were easing. Australia has just one soldier in Afghanistan helping clear land mines. At the peak of fighting following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, 150 Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldiers served in Afghanistan, playing a key role in operations against al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants. All were home by December 2002.Senator Hill said today Afghanistan's gains since a multinational force ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 needed more consolidation and other Western countries were making a contribution. Senator Hill said the tempo of Australia's overseas troop rotation had been high and was still high. "But we have been able to reduce our force size substantially in the Solomon Islands," he said. "We've now completed the peace-keeping mission in East Timor. In some ways there's a little more flexibility now than there was a year or two ago."
Senator Hill said the Federal Government had been focusing on Iraq and Australia still had a key commitment there, recently increased in the Al Muthanna province. "We need to weigh up all these factors," he said. "What's been achieved in Afghanistan is tremendous but it needs to be consolidated."