Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence. Will the minister update the House on progress in Afghanistan and recent successes achieved by the Australian troops?

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson both for her question and for her ongoing and longstanding interest in the work of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. The last few weeks have brought increasing public discussion and, indeed, debate about the international community’s progress, or lack of progress, in our Afghanistan project. In particular, both local and international media seized on the comments of British commander Brigadier Carlton-Smith, who reportedly said that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan was not winnable. While I certainly share Brigadier Carlton-Smith’s frustration, I do not and the government does not share his level of pessimism.

It is absolutely true that the progress of the global partners in Afghanistan is at best very, very slow—and it will remain slow while ever we lack properly coordinated and resourced political, civil and military plans. Those who say that the project in Afghanistan will not be successful by military means alone are absolutely right. That is why the government, in addition to calling for more troops, has been pushing for greater coordination and resourcing; more resources for the UN’s special envoy; more training and capacity building in the Afghan national security forces; a smarter counternarcotics strategy; more economic aid and more aid workers; a greater focus on governance, including the creation and bedding down of a justice system; and, of course, a much bigger effort in addressing those very large challenges we have in Pakistan and the implications for those challenges in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, our troops in Afghanistan continue to do real and meaningful work in Oruzgan province and, indeed, beyond Oruzgan province. Our special forces are having real, strategic effect—disrupting the insurgents, destroying IED manufacturing facilities and eliminating or capturing key Taliban leaders. Indeed, since August alone our special forces have captured or eliminated four key senior Taliban leaders in Oruzgan province including, importantly, Mullah Bari Ghul, the shadow governor of the province, and Mullah Akhtar Mohammed, the well-known extremist Taliban commander. The removal of these senior Taliban leaders has significant impact on the effectiveness of the insurgents more generally.

On the reconstruction side, our Reconstruction Task Force continues to build and rebuild important economic and social infrastructure. Ongoing projects include further improvements to the hospital in Tarin Kowt, the expansion of the Afghan Health Development Service Training Centre, and the rebuilding of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development headquarters and the high school and primary schools in Tarin Kowt. Completed projects include the Sorkh Morgab Basic Health Centre and the Tarin Kowt women’s hospital wing which the governor of the Oruzgan province very recently officially opened. Of course, in the meantime our trades training school is ensuring that we build indigenous capacity so that these reconstruction efforts in the future can be undertaken by local Afghanis.

Some of our reconstruction work also has important strategic effects, like the patrol base at Kudus, which has allowed our troops to dominate an area of strategic importance some 20 kilometres from our base in Tarin Kowt, or the replacement of the Highway 1 bridges, a key logistical thoroughfare which has restored the coalition line of supplies and, critically, allowed for the successful construction of the Kajaki dam project. Importantly, it is worth noting that our Combat Team Dagger was the only organisation available to do this work successfully. Why? Because they are the only reconstruction team that comes with their own very effective security—underlining the important work our infantry troops are also doing in Afghanistan.

Today I can announce that today we enter a new phase in our work in Afghanistan: replacing Reconstruction Task Force 4 will be Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force 1. Importantly, their work will be in building the capacity of the Afghan National Army. Our troops will embed themselves with Afghani battalions, sharing their skills, knowledge and know-how within the fledgling Afghani army. Building the capacity of the Afghan National Army is critical to better progress in Afghanistan. Too often our special forces and other forces are successful in securing ground only to lose that ground after we withdraw because of the inability of the Afghani security forces to hold that ground, to hold our gains.

The 38 international partners in the Afghanistan project continue to face enormous challenges, but if properly resourced and if coordinated political, civil and military plans are embraced, I am absolutely confident that we can achieve relative peace and security for the people of Afghanistan and, importantly, deny extremists a safe haven and a base from which to pursue their global ideological agenda. I am sure all members of the House will join with me in paying tribute to and thanking the men and women of the Australian Defence Force for the wonderful work they are doing in Afghanistan.