bobdina
05-22-2009, 05:07 PM
SYDNEY - Australia will increase its Afghan military presence by about 40 percent and has appointed a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The announcement by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra endorses the new strategy for Afghanistan announced by U.S. President Barack Obama on March 27, Rudd told reporters. He cited Obama's statement of the new U.S. mission there: "I quote, 'to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future.' Australia concurs with this mission," Rudd affirmed.
The Australian Defence Force will increase its troop levels in the country from 1,100 to 1,550, including an extra C-130 Hercules airlifter and an Australian Federal Police training team to help strengthen Afghanistan's civilian police capabilities. But the extra troops will focus on training the Afghan National Army (ANA) and providing extra security for imminent elections in the country, Rudd emphasized.
"At the core of our strategy is the plan for Afghans to take a greater role in their own security ... and the primary role of the new units will be training. Our objective is to transfer security [responsibility] to the Afghans as soon as practicably possible."
Rudd said Obama's objectives in Afghanistan "intersect" with Australia's.
"Which is strategic denial of Afghanistan as a training ground and operating base for global terrorist organizations; second, stabilization of the Afghan state through a combination of military, police and civilian effort to the extent necessary to consolidate this primary mission of strategic denial; and third, in Australia's case, to make this contribution in Oruzgan Province in partnership with our allies, with the objective of ... [handing] over responsibility for the province in a reasonable timeframe to the Afghans themselves."
The Australian contingent will include two additional Operational Mentor and Liaison teams to help train and mentor the ANA's 4th Brigade in Oruzgan Province; additional personnel for Australia's current Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force; 70 more planning and operations staff members to be embedded in coalition headquarters; an infantry rifle company providing security as an election support force; and an additional 50 logistics and transport specialists, including an additional C-130 aircraft and support crew.
Australia previously has resisted calls to deploy extra troops to Afghanistan, claiming there is no point unless European NATO members engaged there also do more to develop a coherent and effective strategy, notes Mark Thomson, a defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. There is no concerted international effort there, he said, adding that Australia's enlarged contribution of just 1,500 personnel from a population of 22 million doesn't seem credible either.
"Another 500 people aren't going to make much difference," said Canberra defense analyst Allan Behm of think tank The Knowledge Pond. Like Thomson, Behm interprets Rudd's "minimalist" announcement of extra troops as an uneasy compromise between meeting the expectations of the Obama administration and addressing mounting concern and antipathy within Australia toward the conflict in Afghanistan.
The Australian government, like its coalition partners, has grown increasingly concerned about terrorists' ability to slip across a porous frontier into safe havens in Pakistan and the destabilizing effect this is having, Rudd said.
"[Australia] will continue to work with the government of Pakistan and encourage Pakistan to act on the problems of terrorist training and operations within its borders," he said. "This is vital work. Maintaining the viability and integrity of the Pakistani state - a country of some 175 million people - is of vital interest to Australia."
To help coordinate this effort, Rudd has appointed Ric Smith his special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Smith, a former civilian head of the Department of Defence, and before that Australia's ambassador in China, will work closely with the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and with the representatives of Australia's allies and partners, including U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
But the factors driving Australia's presence in Afghanistan aren't just terrorism and drugs, according to Daniel Cotterill, a former chief of staff to Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon.
"The reason Australia is fighting in Afghanistan is to assist the ongoing management of our defense and security alliance with the United States," he said in a speech to the National Security Australia conference in Sydney on March 23. "The U.S. alliance is a valid reason for Australia to fight in Afghanistan as it forms the long-term, bipartisan bedrock of our national security and defense posture," added Cotterill, who is now the Sydney-based director of defense and security for public affairs company Hill & Knowlton.
"The bottom line for this conflict that is costing us lots of money and too many lives is whether or not we think we can win," Cotterill told delegates. "If yes, then the government needs a policy that spells out what winning means ... and outlines our exit strategy. If the judgment is that we cannot win, then just the exit strategy will do."
The announcement by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra endorses the new strategy for Afghanistan announced by U.S. President Barack Obama on March 27, Rudd told reporters. He cited Obama's statement of the new U.S. mission there: "I quote, 'to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future.' Australia concurs with this mission," Rudd affirmed.
The Australian Defence Force will increase its troop levels in the country from 1,100 to 1,550, including an extra C-130 Hercules airlifter and an Australian Federal Police training team to help strengthen Afghanistan's civilian police capabilities. But the extra troops will focus on training the Afghan National Army (ANA) and providing extra security for imminent elections in the country, Rudd emphasized.
"At the core of our strategy is the plan for Afghans to take a greater role in their own security ... and the primary role of the new units will be training. Our objective is to transfer security [responsibility] to the Afghans as soon as practicably possible."
Rudd said Obama's objectives in Afghanistan "intersect" with Australia's.
"Which is strategic denial of Afghanistan as a training ground and operating base for global terrorist organizations; second, stabilization of the Afghan state through a combination of military, police and civilian effort to the extent necessary to consolidate this primary mission of strategic denial; and third, in Australia's case, to make this contribution in Oruzgan Province in partnership with our allies, with the objective of ... [handing] over responsibility for the province in a reasonable timeframe to the Afghans themselves."
The Australian contingent will include two additional Operational Mentor and Liaison teams to help train and mentor the ANA's 4th Brigade in Oruzgan Province; additional personnel for Australia's current Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force; 70 more planning and operations staff members to be embedded in coalition headquarters; an infantry rifle company providing security as an election support force; and an additional 50 logistics and transport specialists, including an additional C-130 aircraft and support crew.
Australia previously has resisted calls to deploy extra troops to Afghanistan, claiming there is no point unless European NATO members engaged there also do more to develop a coherent and effective strategy, notes Mark Thomson, a defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. There is no concerted international effort there, he said, adding that Australia's enlarged contribution of just 1,500 personnel from a population of 22 million doesn't seem credible either.
"Another 500 people aren't going to make much difference," said Canberra defense analyst Allan Behm of think tank The Knowledge Pond. Like Thomson, Behm interprets Rudd's "minimalist" announcement of extra troops as an uneasy compromise between meeting the expectations of the Obama administration and addressing mounting concern and antipathy within Australia toward the conflict in Afghanistan.
The Australian government, like its coalition partners, has grown increasingly concerned about terrorists' ability to slip across a porous frontier into safe havens in Pakistan and the destabilizing effect this is having, Rudd said.
"[Australia] will continue to work with the government of Pakistan and encourage Pakistan to act on the problems of terrorist training and operations within its borders," he said. "This is vital work. Maintaining the viability and integrity of the Pakistani state - a country of some 175 million people - is of vital interest to Australia."
To help coordinate this effort, Rudd has appointed Ric Smith his special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Smith, a former civilian head of the Department of Defence, and before that Australia's ambassador in China, will work closely with the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and with the representatives of Australia's allies and partners, including U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
But the factors driving Australia's presence in Afghanistan aren't just terrorism and drugs, according to Daniel Cotterill, a former chief of staff to Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon.
"The reason Australia is fighting in Afghanistan is to assist the ongoing management of our defense and security alliance with the United States," he said in a speech to the National Security Australia conference in Sydney on March 23. "The U.S. alliance is a valid reason for Australia to fight in Afghanistan as it forms the long-term, bipartisan bedrock of our national security and defense posture," added Cotterill, who is now the Sydney-based director of defense and security for public affairs company Hill & Knowlton.
"The bottom line for this conflict that is costing us lots of money and too many lives is whether or not we think we can win," Cotterill told delegates. "If yes, then the government needs a policy that spells out what winning means ... and outlines our exit strategy. If the judgment is that we cannot win, then just the exit strategy will do."