More Australian Troops For Afghanistan

More Australian Troops For Afghanistan

www.postchronicle.com

Australia is sending more troops to Afghanistan amid fears of a Taliban resurgence in the war-ravaged country.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday that a 300-strong unit from the elite Special Operations Task Group will be sent to Oruzgan province in Afghanistan along with another 75 Royal Australian Air Force personnel who will operate radar surveillance of the airspace around Kandahar.

Howard said the move is in response to the deteriorating security situation in the country.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.azadiradio.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Afghan President: I Met With Taliban

The Taliban promised a spring offensive and the recent meeting between Pres. Karzai and Taliban leaders must mean that conditions are getting critical.

This news of the Aussie Special Ops deployment appear to give this concern credence.

www.postchronicle.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I was hoping to hear from the ATS members from Australia on the news of the deployment.

I did find this article from Adelaide but it is written by the political editor so I don't know how slanted it is.

AdelaideNOW

THE Federal Government's decision to send an extra 375 Australian Defence Force personnel to Afghanistan recognises the country is once again teetering on the edge of the abyss.

Prime Minister John Howard said all the advice suggested the security situation in that war-ravaged country was likely to deteriorate once the spring weather made movement possible.

Labor immediately supported the deployment but Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd used the occasion to criticise the decision to withdraw troops late in 2002.

Just found this thread.

I'm looking at this development a little cynically I'm afraid.

Howard is losing ground domestically on Iraq and the polls are saying the opposition leader Kevin Rudd (Labor) is miles ahead and one of his main policies is.......getting the troops out of Iraq....

We just had a state election where Labor were voted back in and I think it sent a message to Howard that the people aren't happy with our troops being there.
And then shortly after ....guess what....no more talk about Iraq but an announcement out of the blue about the extra troops to Afghanistan...

We have a federal election coming up in at the end of the year and Howard is just playing politics for us domestically. He always does this when an election is looming....he brings the fear factor out....this year he's using the Taliban...

But having said that, he did say on the news the other night to prepare ourselves for casualties (almost like it was inevitable).
Either, like I said before, he really is trying to raise the fear levels or he knows something we don't.

[edit on 13-4-2007 by Flighty]

Originally posted by Flighty
We have a federal election coming up in at the end of the year and Howard is just playing politics for us domestically. He always does this when an election is looming....he brings the fear factor out....this year he's using the Taliban...

I have been reading of the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan since late last fall and they promised a new spring offensive, which appears to be starting.

We know the troubles of Iraq, and now Afghanistan is taking a step back, it appears that all of your contries troops being sent are Special Ops forces so it would make me think this is going to be a difficult assignment for the troops.

Search and destroy missions I would guess, and we probably won't hear too much about this as I would think that the US/AUS/Afghanistan govt would want to keep the Taliban resurgence as quiet as possible.

I would hate to think that all of the lives lost by our troops in Afghanistan were for nothing but this region has been a very very difficult nut to crack.

IE: 80s Soviet Afghan war

Thanks for chiming in with your view from "down under"


[edit on 2007/4/13 by JacKatMtn]

Canada considers troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
Malaysia Sun
Tuesday 13th February, 2007

Canada was Tuesday considering withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after sustaining heavy losses in the volatile south, according to an interim report by the Canadian Senate committee on national security and defence.

Canada should consider its withdrawal, if it does not receive greater support from other NATO forces, the Senate committee recommended, according to the Globe and Mail.

Full text: /38qkgb


Evidently allied forces in Afghanistan are taking the brunt. Canada, with over 2000 troops in country has cited the reluctance of NATO forces to step-up and engage the Taliban in the hot zones.

I look for Afghanistan to become extremely problematic for allied forces this year, and Prime Minister Howard's warning about the possibility of Australian casualties is disconcerting.

Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

Howards all but lost this election.
The public lost respect for him on ' Iraq, President Bush, The Peter Costello hissy fit, Work place agreement, The based education programme, and a plethora of other incidents. '

Howards putting more troops into Afghan, because he realises the public believes this is the real fight, which it is.

Unfortunately, he's so addicted to the praise of Bush, and so scared of the consequences from bush, that he's not yet willing to pull out of Iraq and send them to afghan, stupid idiot.. if he had any brains for the coming election he'd do precisley that.. but his egotistical attitude means he'd rather take a chance on the polls, than risk losing the praise from bush.

he's a cunning, manipulating politican in the highest levels, and i thankgod, that finally... he isnt able to 'speak' his way out of an issue.

its loud and clear

you f'd up following the US into Iraq and ignoring afghanistan.