Australia appoints new senior position to NATO
Updated
Australia has appointed a new senior military position to NATO and will send an adviser to the Afghan Defence minister, as the Rudd government defends it contribution to the war in Afghanistan.
In a regular report to Parliament on Australia's role in Afghanistan, Defence minister John Faulkner has rejected claims that Australia has limited its war-fighting operations but has again said the current size of Australia's deployment is right.
Senator Faulkner's report comes as the U-S led "Operation Moshtarak" shifts its focus from the Taliban heartland of Helmand to Kandahar province.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's President; John Faulkner, Australia's Defence Minister,
Dr Geoffrey Garrett, CEO, US Studies Centre, Sydney University
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KARZAI: (Dari)
MOTTRAM: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai graduating 212 new army officers from the Afghan National Army Academy in Kabul.
KARZAI: (Dari)
MOTTRAM: While thanking the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, for its role, President Karzai noted Afghanistan's future security would be its own responsibility.
FX: (applause)
MOTTRAM: It is the central theme of the current phase of international efforts there, as the U-S led Operation Moshtarak pushes on with 30-thousand additional U-S troops and top U-S general Stanley McChrystal's strategy to finally force the Taliban back and eventually leave Afghanistan's security forces in charge. Australian forces in Afghanistan remain in Oruzgan province where their key task is training the fourth brigade of the Afghan National Army to eventually take control of security there. In a regular report to Parliament, Australia's Defence minister John Faulkner has said the fourth brigade has now established a permanent presence in a key valley, after clearing out major weapons caches. The minister has also flatly denied a claim that Australian Defence Force or ADF troops have been held back from hostile situations.
FAULKNER: In Operation Moshtarak for example, ADF personnel conducted operations in Kandahar province to disrupt insurgent routes in Helmand. Australia has other force elements deployed in support of broader ISAF efforts, such as our artillery group in Helmand and our Chinooks.
MOTTRAM: Operation Moshtarak, which means together started in hard-core Taliban territory in Helmand province. The military phase there is now largely over, giving way to a civilian phase, while troops are moving on to the less highly contested, but still very dangerous Kandahar province. Its a region by region strategy and John Faulkner says Australia will continue to be involved.
FAULKNER: Australia will play it's part which could again see ADF elements and their ANA partners supporting the fight.
MOTTRAM: The minister has also ordered that a senior Australian military officer be based at NATO while another has been sent as military adviser to Afghanistan's Defence Minister. And Australia's providing ten personnel from it's existing pool to develop training for Afghanistan's combat arms artillery school.
John Faulkner did not though directly address claims that the US is dissatisfied with Australia's efforts especially it's unwillingness to commit still more troops to Afghanistan. One Australian media report recently quoted unnamed US personnel claiming the issue is a threat to the Australia-US alliance.
Doctor Geoffrey Garrett, CEO of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney says the Obama administration has wanted more of its allies in Afghanistan, but that the alliance with Australia is rock solid and the White House pragmatic.
GARRETT: We seem to have a clear don't ask, don't offer equilibrium on more Australian involvement in Afghanistan, even with the collapse of the Dutch government and the likely withdrawal of the Dutch from southern Afghanistan, the US has already said it would take the leadership role back in southern Afghanistan.
MOTTRAM: The military phase of Operation Moshtarak in Helmand is ending and a civilian phase is taking over. Locals who once sided with the Taliban against warlords are being encouraged to back the central government and while more Afghan military officers are graduating, so are technocrats, with the first coming out of Afghan civil service colleges this year. The hope is that they'll fill the capability gap that has often been filled by the Taliban.
Helmand is the extreme end of the Afghan scenario and time will test whether its reclamation from Taliban hands is complete. Other provinces will be less difficult than Helmand, but not easy. But there are 120 provinces to be subjected to the McChrystal strategy and there's President Obama's tight deadline for beginning to pull his troops out of Afghanistan next year.
