Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to also take note of the ministerial statement we are debating today and to support our troops in Afghanistan. When Australians ask, ‘Why should we be in Afghanistan?’ three answers come to mind. The first reason is that the first objective of Australia’s national security is freedom from attack or the threat of attack—that is, the capacity to protect our citizens and interests at home and abroad. Australia has lost 111 citizens to terrorist attacks abroad. All of these attacks are linked back in some way to the freedom of action that terrorist forces have enjoyed in Afghanistan. We have to remove the safe havens for extreme Islamic terrorists and other groups that are capable of extending their influence into the Australian region and thereby further impacting on our national interests. We also must remember the horrific attacks of September 11 which killed over 3,000 people.

One of the principles of Australia’s national security strategy is to support the UN to promote a rules-based international order. In Afghanistan, Australian forces are under ISAF command, under a UN mandate along with about 40 other countries that are involved. If our alliance with the United States remains a key strategic partnership and the central pillar of Australia’s national security policy, then we have a responsibility to join with the US and its partners under the auspices and sanctions of the UN to continue to achieve the mission in Afghanistan. The maintenance of a strong ANZUS alliance is critical to Australia’s regional security. Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan serves at least in part to reaffirm the strength of the ANZUS alliance and indeed the value of the ANZUS treaty. That is the second reason we should be in Afghanistan. The third reason we should be there is for the welfare of Afghani citizens, who are repressed under extreme Islamic laws.

Firstly, there is the question of whether the troops should pull out altogether. That is an idea advocated by the Greens, who support all sorts of rights—women’s rights, human rights, gay rights. I say, emphatically, no. That would be a sell-out of everything our troops had fought for. Secondly, there is the question of how Australia actively encourages potential Afghan refugees to stay in Afghanistan so that the nation can rebuild itself properly.

It is important to point out that Afghanistan was not always a war-torn nation. Before 1974, it had a university and a form of governance in the monarchy. From 1932 to 1972, Afghanistan enjoyed a certain level of peace and prosperity. Maybe it was not what we would expect, but there was a government. The country was ruled by King Mohammad Nadir Shah, who brought some quite modern, progressive changes to the country—for example, he made the wearing of the veil non-compulsory for women. He was actually a supporter of women’s rights and tried to steer away from the more religious fundamentalist forms of government. He also tried to devise a democratic constitution of sorts. But, after his death, Afghanistan was thrown into conflict by clashing factions from the Marxist side and from the Islamist side. In 1979, the Soviets invaded in an effort to help the Marxist uprising. The war continued for 10 years and it was only after America went in to assist that the Russians pulled out.

In 1990 an interim government was set up in the hope that they could forge ahead with democracy. However, the Taliban as we know it today was already becoming quite a strong political movement, and its growing strength led to the overthrow of the government in 1992. With the subsequent invasions of the country and the formation of the Taliban, Afghanistan turned into a haven for terrorism and extremism, and a training ground with al-Qaeda terrorist camps. But now, with the overthrow of the Taliban and with our forces in Afghanistan, there is no reason why Afghanistan cannot become manageable again, as it was between 1932 and 1974.

Over the past decade, close to 100 Australians have been killed by terrorist attacks that were planned and executed from terrorist safe havens in the mountains of Afghanistan. Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan was then and is now directly linked to our national security and the safety of our citizens, and this is one of the most compelling reasons for us to stay in Afghanistan.

While Afghanistan remains an unstable and volatile hot spot in the world, it cannot be denied that the allied initiatives have brought a level of hope to the people of Afghanistan, and that has not been seen for a long time. School enrolments have increased from one million in 2001 to over six million today, including two million girls, through the national education program. They have expanded the provision of basic health services from less than 10 per cent of the population under the Taliban to around 85 per cent today through national health programs. Over 22,000 communities have identified and managed their own development projects through the Afghanistan-led national solidarity program.

Yet, despite these advancements, there still remains strong opposition to the good work that our brave service men and women in the armed forces are doing. Bob Brown and the Greens would have the Australian public believe they represent the majority of Australians in calling for our troops to come home, but once again the Greens are not telling the truth. That is a very minority point of view. The Greens say that they represent the weakest groups in society such as women, children, gays and all these sorts of people. If we withdraw our troops and subject minorities in Afghanistan to the iron fist of the Taliban, chaos will rule again. Going back 10 or 15 years I can recall an occasion that horrified me when I read about women having been paraded before the crowd in a football ground and hung from the goalposts because they violated some sharia law. It has always stood out in my mind and I have never been able to forget it. Is that what the Greens want? Is that their form of human rights? Do they not realise this has happened and will happen again if we are not in there? People will be wrongly imprisoned for years for the slightest infringement. The vote would be a thing of the past along with education for girls. All these things would go the moment that we left.

The demands of the Greens threaten to derail and sabotage all the good work that has gone into trying to make Afghanistan a stable country again. Enormous sacrifices have been made: 21 of our troops have paid the supreme sacrifice and 100 more have been wounded. That is something that we should recognise in this parliament as a contribution that we have made to stabilise Afghanistan. To just walk out of Afghanistan and return it to the way it was would be, in my opinion, terrible. It would say to the people, the loved ones, the partners and the wives of these soldiers who have made the supreme sacrifice for us, ‘You have given your life for nothing.’

Due to the hard work and cooperation of the allied forces, the people of Afghanistan have had some form of stability brought to their country. It is nothing we would recognise and nothing that we would be happy with, but it is a start and it is moving forward. We have to bring stability to Afghanistan. By bringing stability we do face other problems. How does a nation like Afghanistan that has lost 3.3 million citizens that are now scattered around the rest of the world reconstruct its government when these people, probably from the middle classes, have left? These are the things that we have to recognise. In Afghanistan the average life expectancy is 40 years. Less than 10 per cent of males in Oruzgan province are literate and zero per cent of women in the same area can read. We are in a fight over there and one I do not believe we can walk away from. The country cannot recover if we walk out and let the atrocities that were happening before we arrived to continue.

In closing, I want to recognise the bravery and the high performance with which our soldiers have represented us. They are recognised as the best in Afghanistan. I do not believe that we can walk out now. Afghanistan was once a stable nation, and it can return to that state again if we stay the course. Our country owes a debt of gratitude to our armed forces who fight for us in Afghanistan and other overseas countries. They should know that we are behind them 100 per cent. To cut and run now would not be in Australia’s best interests and would indicate that what our troops have fought for—that is, the stabilisation of Afghanistan—is not appreciated by the parliament or by the Australian citizens. Therefore, I support the Prime Minister’s statement. I believe it is a true reflection of what the Australian people want of our armed forces. They are doing us proud and we should acknowledge their efforts and encourage them to stay there until the job is done.