AFGHANISTAN. WHY ARE WE THERE?
As the Australian Defence Force prepares to bring home 5 soldiers who died last week in Afghanistan, questions have again been raised about the point of our involvement in what began as America’s war on terror.
Yet, at the close of Australia’s deadliest day of combat since the Vietnam War, Prime Minister Gillard reiterated we are not pulling out.
Private Nathanael Galagher, ( below left) 23, from Wee Waa in NSW and Lance Corporal Mervyn McDonald, 30, from Carnarvon in Western Australia were killed when their Black Hawk crashed.
The other three soldiers died when an Afghan National Army sergeant who they were training, shot at them with an automatic weapon, at close range at Baluchi Valley in Iruzgan province. They are ( below, from left) Sapper James Thomas Martin, 21, Private Robert Poate, 23 and Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, 40.
The ADF now faces the prospect of having to again ramp up security for Australian soldiers to prevent another incident in which they are set upon and killed by the Afghan troops they are there to train.
These attacks from within, so to speak, have apparently been on the increase, and dramatically so. Bill Roggio, an expert on the Afghan conflict, says 14% of coalition troops in Afghanistan are victims of what this week has become known as “green on blue” killings.
Naturally the questions arises, how can Australian soldiers stationed in Uruzgan trust the Afghani’s they are training?
Is it merely an expected culture rift? Or is the Taliban now targeting and signing up young Afghans who’ve joined the Afghan National Army? Or do the Afghans think that as the draw-down of coalition troops nears, going back to Taliban is the only option?
These are huge issues, which must keep the brass at the top of the ADF from sleeping well at night. And as Independent MP Andrew Wilkie accuses Prime Minister Gillard and her predecessors Kevin Rudd and John Howard of having blood on their hands, it might well be keeping them up at night too.
So why are we in Afghanistan at all?
- The war in Afghanistan, the opening of the War on Terror, began on October 7th, 2001, as the US, UK, Australia and the Afghan United Front or the northern alliance launched Operation Enduring Freedom.
- The Australian campaign is dubbed Operation Slipper.
- The immediate trigger was the September 11 Al Qaeda attacks on the United States in which 3,000 people were killed. The US wanted to find Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden who it believed was being given safe haven by the ruling Taliban. It wanted to crush the Taliban, destroy the organisational structures of Al Qaeda and create a viable democracy in Afghanistan.
- The first democratic elections were held in 2004 when Hamid Karzai assumed the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He has since dealt with the Taliban.
- But like the former USSR before it, the Coalition seems slow to have learnt that Afghanistan is impossible to tame. Eleven years on, it is now the United States’ longest running war.
- The International Security Assistance Force under NATO’s control was formed in December 2001 to secure Kabul, 43 countries contributed troops.
- More than 3000 Coalition soldiers have died in the battle against the Taliban insurgency. In the first five years of the war, most were American. But between 2006 and 2011, most were Brits and Canadians. 2010 was the worst year: 711 troops died. Australia has lost 38 to date. Most of the casualties are between the ages of 19 and 29.
- Exact figures on Afghani deaths are impossible to provide. But the conservative estimates are between 12,500 and 14,700 civilians to August 2011. The injured, displaced, poverty stricken and those who have died prematurely would on most estimates, quadruple these numbers. More Afghani’s have died in the 11 years of this war than when the country was under Taliban control.
- The cost of the war is mind-boggling. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan since 9/11 have surpassed the US$3.2 trillion mark for the US alone
- By June 2013, Australia will have spent $7.4 billion on the Afghanistan war. Another $1.5 billion has been spent on aid to Afghanistan and Iraq and $10.4 billion beefing up ASIO and the Federal Police a part of a homeland security drive. And Australia has contributed $200 million to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund.
- Australia is now in its third phase of involvement in the Afghanistan war. In the first, it provided support to Coalition aircraft operating in Afghan airspace. The second involved on the ground special task force logistical support and the third has Australian soldiers taking part in a Reconstruction Taskforce. We now have a small contingent working on counter-insurgency operations in Uruzgan with Dutch troops. There are some 800 Australians based in the Middle East providing logistical support to Operation Slipper.
- Australian troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The Prime Minister insists “It is important Australians understand this is a war with a purpose and a war with an end”.
“We are making progress, I can tell you that. I’ve seen it with my own eyes when I have visited Afghanistan,” she told the media. And Tony Abbott says Australia isn’t a country to cut and run.
Australian Defence Force chief, General Hurley warns that to leave now would create a security vacuum, which would be a victory for the Taliban.
It’s a dilemma.
Perhaps if Australia had more closely read the history of Afghanistan before throwing our lot in with a nation that sees itself as a global policeman, we wouldn’t need to be asking “is it worth it?”
Your thoughts?
MORE BY MONICA ATTARD
All about the man on the moon.
International diplomacy gets weird
*Monica Attard OAM, is a five-time Walkley award-winning Australian journalist – including the Gold Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism 1991. She was the host of the ABC’s PM, the World Today and Media Watch.She spent 28 years at the ABC, leaving to start up The Global Mail where she was, until recently, the Managing Editor. In 1997, Monica published a book entitled Russia: Which Way Paradise? documenting her time there as a foreign correspondent.
20 Responses to this article
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Janet September 1, 2012
I am glad you have asked the question, Monica, because this week I have been very perplexed as to what is our purpose there.
The game of Risk always springs to my mind when I think of Afghanistan. It has been a strange quagmire for foreign troops throughout history, from Alexander and Ghengis Khan to the British Empire and the USSR, and we do not seem to see it as a morality tale.
While I think that the stated objective to making a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is an admirable purpose, albeit slightly colonial, I cannot see how it will work if the Afghans themselves do not wish it to happen. Being shot by the police force or army that you are training would be a most depressing and disheartening thing for young soldiers from the allied forces.
Whilst remembering the lessons of Risk, it would be wise for the US to realise that while they are busy in the Middle East they leave themselves open to the South Americans.
Perhaps the world map will be quite different by the end of the century but I am sure that the Pashtuns will still be there waiting for the next foreign military expedition to Afghanistan.
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Matt September 1, 2012
Indeed why are we STILL there I think is the more accurate question.
The ruling authority of Afghanistan at the time, sponsored terrorism which flew planes into the world trade centre. The Taliban needed to be taken down and I fully supported that action. But in my opinion it should have ended there.
You are correct, you can’t tame Afghanistan. It’s barely a country but more a collection of medieval provinces. Trying to convert this into some beacon of modern democracy will never happen, not in our lifetimes.
My brother is a veteran and he is adamant that progress is being made. He’s equally as adamant that the minute Coalition forces leave, the Taliban will just slide back in.
The West did not create this problem. But it can’t fix it either. They are trying to create an orderly transition to a stable and well equipped democratic government which is highly admirable but one cant help but feel this is merely delaying the inevitable.
Bring the troops home and let the Afghanis fend for themselves. The sooner the better. -
Vince. September 1, 2012
Monica,
Welcome back to journalism, where you can give us your absolute all. The ABC has gone down hill since journalists like you have left. It is such a shame that we do not get the level of indepth Analysis you have given here.
I have been asking for years why we are still there. How much it cost and when we will stop trying to foist democracy on these countires. We would be pissed off if they tried to come and foist dictatorships or religious regimes on us.Our Politicians area naive lot thinking they can make a difference in countries like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Harriet September 1, 2012
I have wondered for a very long time why Australia is still participating in this war. It’s not our war, it’s not ever been our war… and the other thing that’s bothered me about the whole thing with Afghanistan – Australia is there to help stamp out an oppressive regime, yet Australians (not all, but a very vocal bunch) don’t want refugees, a good proportion of whom have come from a country we’re busily blowing up!
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Willy Bach September 1, 2012
Thanks Monica, a good article and the ending is a poignant reminder of the sorry history Australia has of acquiescing in wars that are not in the best interests of Australia, often harming these interests in the mistaken view that this must be done to preserve the alliance with the US. But as a number of Australian Prime Ministers have been told, the US is not interested in protecting us; they only want to use of us to make what the US does look more widely supported and respectable. Just ask Malcolm Fraser to answer this.
While we ponder the provisions of the ANZUS alliance we might reflect on the kind of ally we have. If the US is a global policeman, it should be an exemplary keeper of international law. It should also be a good member of the UN, help pay for peacekeeping operations, provide personnel and equipment for peacekeeping, be an active member of the International Criminal Court, sign, ratify, adhere to and promote such UN treaties as the Convention against discrimination, torture, the mistreatment of children and women, as well as the other treaties that seek to ameliorate climate change and preserve our planet.
This is hardly a description of the USA on any of these issues. Nor has the US shown an interest in acting like a global policeman at any time in the last several decades. Instead we have a hyper-power that sells more weapons around the world than any other nation does and covertly or openly threatens other nations, violates sovereignty at will, while committing acts of war.
Australia is not well served by being associated with this belligerent behaviour; it is not ‘who we are’ or ‘what we do’ (to quote the US President). We would spend much less on weaponry and security if we did not play the Deputy Sheriff role but the moderating friend and honest broker role.
Afghanistan was on a US list of countries to be bombed before the WTC was attacked (see the PNAC web site) and the link with the Taliban was never established in evidence that could be proven. As negotiations for withdrawal continue to proceed, we will soon see the Taliban or some other distasteful group back in power to govern a very damaged and troubled nation that is infinitely worse off than it was eleven years ago. Ask yourself how many millions of refugees have left Afghanistan. What they have lost will never be repaid. Julia Gillard’s descriptions of a ‘mission’ that ‘we must stay the course’ to complete are both insolent to Afghans and cruel to the families of soldiers and the troops themselves. They have risked their lives in a war that was someone else’s fool’s errand. It was the US’s war of choice; not Australia’s.
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Matt September 3, 2012
Yes Afghanistan was rainbows and lolly pops before the coalition arrived. Children swam in rivers of chocolate and rode unicorns to school.
The link between the Taliban and the World trade Centre plane massacre was never proven? That’s a laughable statement. The Taliban absolutely needed to be taken down and I’m glad we were a part of that push. One of the few justified military campaigns in recent times. (The other was East Timor).
The problem was we overstayed. You can’t fix Afghanistan and never will.
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Rhoda September 2, 2012
We talked ourselves into it. As we talked ourselves into all the other wars.
We got caught up in Korea by our obligations as a member state of the UN.
We got caught up in Vietnam by our obligations under the SEATO and ANZUS treaties.
We got caught up in an undeclared confrontation with Indonesia in Borneo to stop President Sukarno from destabilizing the new Federation of Malaysia.
We got caught up in Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction with the US and other nations.
And now we’re caught in Afghanistan as part of a ‘global’ war on terror instigated by the USA.
Where will it ever end?
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George September 3, 2012
Great article. It is a wonder the Politicians can’t see the similarities of Vietnam and Afganistan. We’ve been here before, we ran before and it is time to run again. No Nation has the ability to change the face of the Middle East.
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RobynMarie September 3, 2012
I understand why we are there, but do Australian solodiers have to keep dying? Yes I know Afghanistan is the nursery of terrorism but can’t another answer be found than our sodiers being senselessly killed? I just can’t bear to see these young men dying.
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Bubbles September 3, 2012
Great article Monica! Australia needs to get out of there NOW. Why leave our young solders there in harms way to be used as target practice for the very people they are there to train and mentor?
The Afghan army heads have said they want us gone and the security forces are proving to be lethal, not to the common enemy the Taliban, but to allied forces…including our soldiers. We must face the fact that we will never be able to create the kind of Afghanistan that would be palatable to us. Australia sadly has a proven track record of sending our soldiers to foreign countries to die and now is the time to stop and bring them home. -
Annie Also September 3, 2012
What Willy Bach said.
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Terri September 3, 2012
If there are no wars to fight, no conflict real or created, what is the purpose of an armed force? Wars validate the need for the armed forces, therefore, without war a lot of people would be without jobs. Why are we surprised at the costs of war in human lives and the financial aspect – the very nature of this industry demands a very high cost.
Is it worth it? What price do you put on human lives? Who makes the call on whether a war is winnable? What are the alternatives to war? I think these questions should have been asked before we join any conflict. -
Deb September 4, 2012
So glad we are talking about it somewhere, thanks Monica. Yes, striking similarities between this conflict and the Vietnam war – but one major difference is the lack of a popular movement to bring the troops home. Ask most people and I reckon they would want Australia out of there – but they are not out in the streets. What does it take to build an anti-war movement – are we waiting for charismatic leaders like Jim Cairns and Jeannie McLean?
Interesting too, the disparity between the war budget and the aid budget. The single biggest change we could make in Afghanistan is support for the education of children with the long term aim of empowering women to claim their rights and men to recognise the rights of girls and women.
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Rhoda September 9, 2012
Considering the anti Vietnam movement was a low point in the life of Australian veterans I hardly think we want or need a repeat. There is a way of going about things that should not involve spitting on soldiers of war. The troops are doing their job and they can’t run away from it, nor do they have a say in where they are deployed.
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matt strickland December 23, 2012
I hate it when our troups kill the men of an afghan village and leave and one of them gets a Victoria cross
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matt strickland December 23, 2012
And I can’t even find the places on a map where Ben Robert smith did his heroic deeds. I wonder if he will ever return to that place where they killed 90 afghan men and understand what the consequences of that day in 2010,July . My heart breaks for that village ,I’m sorry for what they did
