Australia is in deficit, but can afford to pay the Afghan army.

As most Aussies would already know, Australia is in debt, and has pulled the last of it's troops for Afghanistan. It ends more than a decade of death, disfigurement, and untold mental issues that will arise years from now. I give my full support to those who did serve, and they can sleep safe at night knowing that the Govt is throwing money at the problem.

The Australian government has also committed to spending about $100 million a year on the Afghan national forces, Mr Abbott said.

ninemsn.com.au

That's awfully generous of the government, considering it's more than a hundred billion dollars in debt.
So where is the money coming from? well it may be coming from the job cuts they have planned:

It's understood the Coalition government will stick by its target of 12,000 job cuts over the next four years but wants to target the job losses to match the Coalition's policies and ensure the cuts don't undermine priority tasks.

The Australian

'Priority tasks'? In what world does a foriegn nation's army take priority over your own nations people?
Ever since it the new govt was sworn in the two sides have been playing who smelt it dealt it, blaming each other for the debt and the job cuts. But how could either side justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a war we just pulled out of?

This really burns my snag. Many people are waking up every morning wondering if they still have a job to go to, but it's good to know that the Afghan army won't have the same problem.

I will end with a quote from the Prime Minister about the Afghan war that might soothe you.

"Nevertheless, if you look at the benefits for our country, for Afghanistan, and for the wider world, my conclusion is yes, it has been worth it."

smh.com.au

If Aussie aid works the way US aid, and well lets face it most of the worlds foriegn aid, it ends up making a profit. Here is a 100 million towards that 500 million your going spend and also here are several Aussie companies that can handle those contracts for you. They like to dress it up as good will but, really it is just a legal international form of a bribe. Does anybody really think nations hand out money just for the fun of it? Please, it is all about getting your people in the door with nice juicy contracts that keep people working and paying taxes.

We're currently withdrawing AUS troops from afghan anyways. Think this happened a day before the deficit?
I do know they're coming home for Christmas though.

blueyezblkdragon
We're currently withdrawing AUS troops from afghan anyways. Think this happened a day before the deficit?
I do know they're coming home for Christmas though.

I think you missed the point the OP is putting across.

Let me make it simple for you Australian government is paying out money for someone else's army and not the Australian army.
We have pulled our troops out yes.

reply to post by Thecakeisalie


Maybe Australia's army has been training up the Afghanistan troops for Martial Law, now aussie troops have trained them they are no longer needed there. So the government are funding them to keep them recruiting and training.

Agenda 21???

Australia's seems to losing everything skills and trades due to free trade.

Keep seeing jobs disappear at a alarming rate.

100 million a year hey, wow. Looks like we will be funding Al' Qaeda and the Taliban for the next few years then.