Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I was impressed by the speeches of both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Rather than repeating their words I am seeking today to add to the debate. The men and women of the RSL declare in their motto that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. These men and women, who have risked their lives for our country, have themselves defined the regrettable justification for war. The liberty that the RSL talks of is not limited to freedom within Australia. It extends beyond our borders and to those beyond our community.

In Oruzgan province in Southern Afghanistan our presence is helping to protect and encourage the liberty of the Afghan people. We are helping to build a nation that can control its streets, feed its people, educate its community and deliver liberty to the oppressed. We are helping good people to live beyond the moment and to lay the foundations for a better quality of life—for both men and women.

Afghanistan is a heavily tribalised country and so building a sense of patriotism among Afghans has never been an easy task. Like the people of many areas of Central Asia and the Middle East, many Afghans do not see their first loyalty as being to the central government, particularly if they live in a remote village and only occasionally hear news from Kabul. For many Afghans, most notably in areas in the south and on the border with Pakistan, their first loyalty is to their tribe, their second is to their family, their third is to their religion and somewhere after that they occasionally may have some degree of loyalty to their country. This is where the Taliban gains its power and influence. By asserting control at the local level it has been able to delegitimise nation building and further undermine the tenuous control of the central government. This has led renowned Australian counterinsurgency strategist and confidant of General Petraeus, David Kilcullen, to comment:

The Afghan government is not being out-fought, they are being out-governed.

By asserting a system of control, albeit an authoritarian one, the Taliban has leveraged off the power of tribal communities—tribal communities that are traditionally aligned not with the Taliban but with whomever can best protect their communities. Kilcullen observes further:

Ninety percent of the people you call ‘Taliban’ are actually tribals. They’re fighting for loyalty or Pashtun honor, and to profit their tribe. They’re not extremists. But they’re terrorized by the other 10 percent: religious fanatics, terrorists, people allied to the Taliban leadership shura in Quetta—

the equivalent of a Taliban parliament but not quite—

They’re afraid that if they try to reconcile, the crazies will kill them. To win them over, first you have to protect their people, prove that the extremists can’t hurt them if they come over to your side.

The solution therefore has to involve creating a situation where Afghans feel as if they have a stable civil environment in which to operate. As we found out during the surge in Iraq, this can only be done with a strong military presence that defends the civilian population and builds relationships with everyone from local religious leaders to the young people most vulnerable to Taliban recruitment. An environment needs to be created where the new generation of young Afghan leaders can step up to the plate, democratically assume control and start governing themselves. This goes to the heart of Australia’s modest and sustainable military commitment to Afghanistan.

I am, in part, a member of this place to provide opportunities to my children and grandchildren. For young people in Afghanistan, particularly teenagers, the opportunities we take for granted are non-existent. For a 15-year-old growing up in a remote village, who has never had the chance to go to school, to read or write either his native language or Arabic, the opportunity to pick up a Kalashnikov, strap it to his back and shoot at both Afghan and foreign soldiers is immense. For all their failings, the Taliban are providing opportunities where the Afghan government is not—opportunities that will enshrine extremist and totalitarian beliefs among the next generation. Young Afghans are asking themselves ‘What is the central government doing for me?’ and coming up with nothing.

Young people are not motivated to join groups because of ideology; it is out of fear and a lack of opportunity in their own lives. Many have similarly been indoctrinated by local religious leaders whose knowledge of Arabic, the language of their holy text, is often spurious. Not having the education or self-confidence to challenge these views means the doctrine of their tribal leader prevails without question. A stable Afghanistan can provide an environment where schools can be built, business can start to function and social services can be provided. Ignorance can be challenged through education, and malevolence can be undermined with opportunity. Once education and public order are present in communities right around Afghanistan, joining groups like the Taliban or a local militia looks less attractive and less appealing.

Hillary Clinton recently spoke of the three Ds of foreign policy—democracy, development and defence—so any contribution Australia makes militarily must be matched by an efficient and effective aid program. Australia’s aid program to Afghanistan has quadrupled since 2001, from $26.5 million in 2001-02 to $106 million in 2010-11. I was proud to be part of a coalition government that oversaw this substantial increase in aid. However, in recent years the Rudd-Gillard government has preferred to ignore our own region and strategic interests and to focus on Africa in hot pursuit of a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat. It has given up stability in our region for its own political goals.

This has hampered our aid program in Afghanistan and our supplementing of the work being undertaken by our military in Oruzgan province. The district is trailing most of Afghanistan’s 38 provinces in crucial areas of development such as literacy, public health care and education. We can and we should do more with our aid program in Afghanistan, particularly in Oruzgan province, instead of in areas outside of our immediate strategic interests.

That Afghanistan is well within the area of Australia’s strategic interests is obvious. The current makeup of the region means it is a violent incubator of terrorism—and such a threat could well harm Australia and our neighbours in the near future. Australia cannot afford Afghanistan being a hotbed of terror; more than 100 Australian civilians and military personnel have already lost their lives to terrorism in attacks by groups that—at very least—have a strong association with Afghanistan. Hambali, the former military leader of Jemaah Islamiah, was trained in and received support from Afghanistan for the Bali nightclub attacks in 2002. Afghanistan knowingly harboured al-Qaeda before 2001, under the Taliban, and they would do this again if given the chance.

Australia also has a role to play in developing new solutions to the problems of Afghanistan. All good friends offer advice—and Australians are leading the world in strategic thinking on nation building and strengthening civil society. Australia in Oruzgan province is an exemplar of the transition from an occupying force to a nation-building force. Through the provision of the First Mentoring Task Force, set with the goals of mentoring and supporting the Afghan national army in addition to providing training in essential industries, the contribution that is made by Australian soldiers will remain long after the troops leave. The unit conducts fixed steel and concreting, plumbing and basic construction skills courses and includes a mobile training school offering courses to local nationals in specific vocational areas. In a country where there is a lack of basic skills in construction and secondary industries, this kind of program is sorely needed.

The Afghan government has been disappointing in not creating the conditions where a viable stable democracy can be found. My faith in the Karzai regime, and indeed my faith in our presence in Afghanistan, was sorely tested by President Karzai’s affirmation of the Shia family law that amounted to legitimising marital rape among Afghanistan’s considerable Shiite community. It sadly reinforced unfair cultural stereotypes of the Islamic faith that so many millions of Muslims, from Afghanistan to Indonesia, have aimed to dispel. Thankfully, he declared the approval a mistake. However, my desire to see an Afghanistan where this kind of law is not proposed or passed outweighs my initial disgust.

The presence of Australian troops in Afghanistan should not be determined by Karzai’s leadership, as it is my hope that all future governments, at all levels, will be more reflective of the Afghan population as a whole and give the people more reason to believe and trust their government. The Afghan government has been let down time and time again by the offensive actions of Hamid Karzai and his corrupt and incompetent administration.

Karzai’s reaction to domestic and international criticism has been truly heinous and is in direct contradiction of the values that our troops in Afghanistan are aiming to instil; however, that underscores the importance of the job we are doing and the need to stay in rather than leave Afghanistan. We need to play our part in creating the next generation of politicians, diplomats and teachers so Afghanistan can be governed centrally, transparently and with a level of public accountability similar to that which we expect here in Australia.

Transparency International ranks Afghanistan as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, scoring it 1.3 out of a possible 10 and ranking it 179 out of 180 in its annual corruption perceptions index. This corruption needs to be rooted out of Afghanistan from the top. President Karzai has had his fair share of allegations levelled against him about his own behaviour, but the inability of his government to tackle corruption is of more concern. A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime survey released earlier this year revealed that an overwhelming 59 per cent of Afghans view public dishonesty as a bigger concern than insecurity and unemployment. This concern has largely been ignored by the central government in Kabul. As suggested by Gretchen Peters, a recognised authority on Afghanistan and the opium trade, the problem of poppy trade corruption is worse within the Afghan government than within the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s greatest asset is its people. While military metrics may not be achieved at a speedy rate, the optimism of the people, especially the young population, is admirable. This is a testament to the increased troop numbers, a greater global focus and a healthy degree of scepticism and debate about the conflict, both in Afghanistan and abroad. Earlier this year, 70 per cent of Afghans surveyed by the Afghan Centre for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research said that they thought Afghanistan was generally heading in the right direction—that is up 30 per cent on the same poll done the previous year. The economy, poverty and jobs took over as the biggest problems facing Afghanistan this year, and access to basic services such as electricity and medical care is getting better, although there is still room for improvement. Fifty-two per cent of Afghans said that they had good access to medical care—a seven per cent increase on the previous year.

The commitment of successive American governments to protect not just their own liberty but also the liberty of others is unparalleled. If the Americans can show their mission in Afghanistan is necessary and productive, as I believe they have, we have a duty to stay the course and to help our mate. The relationship between Australia and the United States is more than just an agreement or a treaty; it is a friendship forged in the blood of our young. More than 100,000 young Americans are buried in the sand between here and Japan. They fought and died for our freedom as much as they did for their own. Similarly, when 340 Australians died in Korea, when 521 Australians died in Vietnam and when two Australians died in Iraq, we fought with our American mates when so many others had abandoned them or chosen not to fight.

We in Australia need a strong America that shares our values, our aspirations and our security needs. America was instrumental in helping us in East Timor, and on a daily basis we shared intelligence and technology that helped ensure our security in a big and at times unpredictable region. The synergy of vision and values between Australia and the US is undeniable. We share a common view that opportunity is the key to individual success, that democracy is the best way to achieve an active society and that no-one—no matter their sex, race, religion or colour—can be denied basic human rights such as education, the right to vote and free speech. Australia must be there until the job is done. It is painful, it is difficult, it is trying, but liberty and security have no time limits. They require eternal vigilance.

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