Houston sees progress in Afghanistan

By Max Blenkin, Sydney Morning Herald

Progress in Afghanistan is steady and Australia will likely be able to hand responsibility for Oruzgan province's security to Afghan forces within three to five years, the defence chief says.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said Australian troops had steadily extended their influence into Oruzgan province, clearing insurgents and establishing bases.

He said handing responsibility to Afghan security forces was a key objective with Australian forces making good progress in training the Afghan National Army 4th Brigade.

"I have always said in 3-5 years we will be in a position to transition responsibility for security to the 4th brigade and they will be of a level of capability where they can conduct complex brigade level operations to ensure the security of the province," he told reporters on Monday.

Air Chief Marshal Houston said Australia had trained Iraqi troops, eventually redeploying them to act as security backup, before withdrawing entirely.

He said there was much to be done in Afghanistan but the tide was turning against the insurgents and the coalition was making progress.

"Some clear signs of this are the improving capability of the Afghan National Security forces. Additionally 59 per cent of Afghans who were polled believe their country is heading in the right direction, up from 45 per cent from a year ago," he said.

"I firmly believe that progress in Afghanistan will not be in leaps and bounds. It will be slow and steady but over time we will prevail."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said Australian, coalition and Afghan forces had already achieved considerable success in Oruzgan.

For the full report click here for the Sydney Morning Herald

Australia 'playing its part' in Afghan surge

On the job: Australian forces will again be involved in supporting Operation Mushtarak

Defence Minister John Faulkner told ABC News that Australian troops will be involved in the next phase of a major operation against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Operation Mushtarak is part of US General Stanley McChrystal's new strategy to reverse the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan.

Senator Faulkner says Australian troops have already played a significant role in operations throughout central Helmand province.

He says the focus is now turning to the Taliban insurgency around Kandahar.

"I expect Australian forces will again be involved in supporting General McChrystal's strategy," he said.

"Australia will play its part, which could again see ADF elements and their ANA (Afghan National Army) partners supporting the fight."

Senator Faulkner has appointed two senior Defence Force officers to key roles relating to the war in Afghanistan.

Major-General Brian Dawson will serve as Australia's military representative to NATO, while Major-General Ash Power will become a senior military adviser to the Afghan defence minister.

Senator Faulkner announced the appointments during a speech updating Parliament on the situation in Afghanistan.

He says a new strategy for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is paying dividends.

"The early gains of Operation Mushtarak highlight the value of ISAF's revised strategy," he said.

"As Admiral Mullen said in New York only a few days ago, 'the objective is not the enemy's defeat but the people's success'."

Dog Returns home after a year in the Afghan wilderness

An Australian Special Forces explosive detection dog has been found alive and well more than a year after she went missing in action in Afghanistan.

Black Labrador “Sabi” was recovered by a US Soldier at an isolated patrol base in Oruzgan Province, after going missing in the same September 2008 battle during which Trooper Mark Donaldson, earned his Victoria Cross.

Nine Australian soldiers, including Sabi’s handler, were wounded during the fighting.

The US soldier who recovered Sabi, who can be identified only by his first name John, was aware that Australian Special Forces were missing one of their explosive detection dogs.

He said it was immediately obvious that Sabi was no ordinary canine.

“I took the dog and gave it some commands it understood,” John said.

John said he thanked the man who was with Sabi and shook his hand.

Sabi was then flown to Tarin Kowt to be reunited with one of her Australian Special Forces trainers.

“I nudged a tennis ball to her with my foot and she took it straight away,” the trainer said.

“It’s a game we used to play over and over during her training. It’s amazing, just incredible, to have her back.”

Currently in the United Kingdom after meeting Her Majesty the Queen, Trooper Mark Donaldson, VC said Sabi’s return had closed a chapter of their shared history.

“She’s the last piece of the puzzle,” Trooper Donaldson said.

“Having Sabi back gives some closure for the handler and the rest of us that served with her in 2008. It’s a fantastic morale booster for the guys.”

At the time of her disappearance Sabi was coming to the end of her second tour of duty in Afghanistan, having previously deployed in 2007.

Australia to Decide on Afghanistan Reinforcements in Weeks - Bloomberg

Australia, which has about 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, will decide “in a matter of weeks” whether to send more troops or other aid, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said after talks with U.S. officials.

Smith met in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their defense counterparts on a range of issues that also touched on military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan, the spread of nuclear weapons and the potential threat of atomic programs in Iran and North Korea.

“No decisions were made, no requests made and no commitments given, but it was a very helpful discussion” on assistance for Afghanistan, Smith said in a media briefing with Clinton, Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “We expect in the very near future to be able to make and announce a formal decision.”

President Barack Obama is sending 17,000 extra U.S. soldiers and 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan to quell a resurgence of the Taliban, and is seeking civilian and defense contributions from other nations. A public opinion poll last month showed two-thirds of Australians opposed adding to their contingent in Afghanistan.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told radio station 4BC in Brisbane last month that he is willing to consider additional requests from the U.S.

Obama’s military and civilian strategy unveiled last month and in a March 31 conference in The Hague have helped create “an international consensus” on how to approach the war and the country’s reconstruction needs, Smith said today.

“Australia certainly supports that strategy,” Fitzgibbon said today.

He said Australia would consider whether contributing more troops, alongside additions from other countries would achieve progress to allow foreign forces “go home sooner rather than later.”

Australia to boost Afghanistan war effort - The Australian

AUSTRALIA is poised to lift the number of military trainers serving in Afghanistan after NATO announced plans to send another 5000 combat troops to stem a worsening Taliban insurgency.

That danger was reinforced last night with news two Australian special forces soldiers were wounded, one seriously, when their light truck triggered a roadside bomb on Saturday.

Kevin Rudd yesterday briefed cabinet's national security committee on talks with US President Barack Obama and the NATO summit in Strasbourg, both of which focused on a new policy approach in Afghanistan. It's understood the Government is preparing to send up to 250 army trainers and supporting troops to the war-ravaged country to bolster the Afghan security forces.

This follows the weekend agreement by NATO members to boost their overall troop numbers by 5000 in the lead-up to Afghanistan's presidential elections, scheduled for August.

Canberra welcomed the modest commitment of more NATO troops to Afghanistan and appeared ready to bolster troop numbers, despite growing public opposition to the war that has cost 10 Australian lives so far.

A Newspoll published in The Australian two weeks ago found that nearly two-thirds of respondents were opposed to sending more troops to Afghanistan.

"Australia will consider carefully any request for more assistance to Afghanistan, be it military or civil, in accordance with our capacity as long as strategy and risks are clear and acceptable," Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said.

New initiatives agreed to in Strasbourg include the establishment of a NATO training mission in Afghanistan.

NATO nations Britain, Italy and Spain agreed to additional increases of 900, 700 and 450 troops respectively.

NATO faces a growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, complicated by the corrupt Karzai Government in Kabul, an ineffective police force, a booming drug economy and al-Qa'ida and Taliban terrorist safe havens across the border in Pakistan.

Like their Afghan affiliates, an emboldened Pakistan-based Taliban has stepped up major attacks. Its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, last week claimed responsibility for a deadly raid on a police academy in Lahore in which at least eight trainee officers were killed.

Australia has about 1100 troops serving in Afghanistan, including a 440-strong Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force based in southern Oruzgan, helping train the Afghan National Army.

Unlike the US, Canada, Britain and Denmark, Australia has baulked at committing regular troops to hazardous counter-insurgency operations - a role it sees as best served by a secretive 330-strong special forces task group of SAS and commandos.

Defence did not give the location of the latest attack but confirmed one of the special forces soldiers was seriously wounded in the lower body. The soldier, who has not been named, has been flown to Germany for further treatment after stabilising surgery at a field hospital.

Defence Force Chief Angus Houston said: "It appears the immediate first aid that his mates applied, and the surgery he received at the coalition hospital, saved his life."

The other Digger escaped with minor wounds and was later evacuated to the Australian-Dutch base at Tarin Kowt.

Last month, SAS operatives and their Afghan colleagues killed a senior Taliban insurgent commander, Mullah Abdul Bari.

It was later revealed his death occurred in neighbouring Helmand province, proof Australia's Special Operations Task Group is ranging well outside Oruzgan in its hunt for Taliban leaders.