Agence France-Presse, Australia announced April 10 it would nearly double its military force in Afghanistan to 1,000 troops, warning that the war against a resurgent Taliban would not be won without extra effort.
A special task force spearheaded by 300 elite soldiers would be deployed shortly to help counter an expected summer offensive by the Islamic hardliners, Prime Minister John Howard told a news conference.
“Afghanistan faces a crucial phase as international and Afghan national security forces work to consolidate the gains made since the overthrow of the Taliban regime,” he said.
The Taliban were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, and Howard warned that the possibility of Afghanistan again becoming a “bolthole for terrorists” was real.
“If terrorism acquires a safe haven again in Afghanistan that will be of direct consequence to this country and to other countries in the region,” he said. “We are not losing the war, but we will not win it without renewed and increased effort and that is why we are playing our part.”
Howard told Australians to be prepared for casualties, saying intelligence reports pointed to an increasing threat posed by the insurgency.
The new elite troops, including Special Air Services soldiers and commandos, would be sent to Uruzgan province in south-central Afghanistan.
“Their role will be to enhance provincial security by disrupting Taliban command-and-control supply routes and they will directly support the Australian reconstruction task force,” he said.
Australia already has some 550 soldiers in Afghanistan, including about 370 with the reconstruction group. Its total military commitment will reach about 950 troops by the middle of this year and 1,000 next year, he said.
A total of some 48,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops are operating in Afghanistan, where 34 foreign soldiers have died since January.
Howard, a close ally of U.S. President George W. Bush has also contributed some 1,400 troops to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and said it was important that Australia join its allies to fight the threat of terrorism.
His conservative government faces a tough bid for re-election this year, with opinion polls showing that most Australians back the opposition Labor Party's plan to pull the troops out of Iraq.
But Labor leader Kevin Rudd supported the new troop deployment to Afghanistan, saying it was a breeding ground for terrorists and Howard had withdrawn Australian troops too soon after the invasion.
“What we've got there is Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, the original terrorists responsible for September 11,” Rudd told commercial radio. “It's different to Iraq, which is primarily a civil war between Sunni and Shia factions of Islam.
And that's why we believe that country primarily requires a political solution rather than a military solution.”
