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Australia is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan to counter resurgent Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said Thursday.
Nelson refused to confirm or deny media reports that the government would nearly double Australia's commitment to around 1,000 soldiers.
“We are very concerned about the activities of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan,” he told Australian radio.
“What I have decided to do is to send a small scoping group over to Afghanistan to have a very close look at it.”
Nelson said he had discussed the issue with the Dutch, British and US governments and that, while no final decision had been made, Australians should not be surprised if the government deployed more troops.
Australia currently has some 550 soldiers in Afghanistan, about 370 of them with a reconstruction task force.
A 33,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is deployed in the country to tackle a growing insurgency by supporters of the former Taliban regime and to expand the influence of the weak central government.
More than 4,000 people were killed in Afghan fighting last year, including about 170 foreign soldiers. Fourteen foreign soldiers have died so far this year.
Nelson's remarks come just days after Prime Minister John Howard announced that the government would send another 70 military instructors to Iraq.
