AI
Wednesday, February 01, 2012 7:27:35 PM
Australian soldiers may leave Afghanistan early
Australian soldiers patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers.
A man in an Afghan uniform has shot dead a NATO soldier. [ABC]
Last Updated: 16 hours 42 minutes ago
Australia's Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced Australia could be ready to pull out of Afghanistan before its current 2014 deadline.
Mr Smith said he's confident Australia will achieve its objectives within its existing time frame.
"Australia continues to believe that we are on track in Uruzgan Province to transfer responsibility for security to the Afghan ational security forces by 2014 and perhaps earlier," Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith said Australia will maintain a presence in Afghanistan after handing over to Afghan security forces.
The Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, Australia's soldiers should be withdrawn from Afghanistan when their objectives had been secured and not when a fixed date had been reached.
NATO soldier killed
A man in an Afghan army uniform shot dead a soldier with NATO-led forces in southern Afghanistan, just days after four French soldiers died in a similar shooting.
The latest shooting happened on Tuesday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, without giving further details or the nationality of the victim.
"An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against an International Security Assistance Force service member in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing one service member," ISAF said in a statement.
On January 20, a renegade Afghan army soldier turned on his French trainers in Kapisa near the capital Kabul, killing four.
The killings prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to briefly suspend the French training mission in Afghanistan. He later ordered the withdrawal of all French combat troops by 2013, a year earlier than a planned NATO exit.
Dozens of NATO troops have been killed by their Afghan colleagues, and while some deaths have been claimed by Taliban insurgents, analysts say they are seldom ideological but stem from personal antagonism and arguments.
Between May 2007 and May 2011 at least 58 US and NATO personnel were killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers and the police, according to details of a classified coalition report published last month in the New York Times.
The report emphasises the killings are the result of a decade of contempt that each side has for each other, despite being supposed allies in the fight against the Taliban.
The US-led international force is training Afghan's military to take full responsibility for security after NATO ends all combat missions in 2014.
Secret report
A secret NATO report on Afghanistan reports the Taliban are being directly assisted by elements in Pakistan and have widespread support among the Afghan people.
The report reveals elements in Pakistan knows where senior Taliban leaders are living, and in one area the insurgent fighters live near the office of the Pakistan secret service, the ISI.
It also claims that members of the Afghan Government are joining the Taliban and that the insurgents are seen as more popular than President Karzai's Government which is viewed as corrupt.
A senior foreign ministry official has described them as "frivolous".
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201202/3420820.htm?desktop
See also
Panetta: US combat in Afghanistan to end next year
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=71607816
Words of withdrawal in Australia shifted from 2014 to 2013 quite
some time ago, so much so that the "may" at the top feels careful.
Australian soldiers patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers.
A man in an Afghan uniform has shot dead a NATO soldier. [ABC]
Last Updated: 16 hours 42 minutes ago
Australia's Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced Australia could be ready to pull out of Afghanistan before its current 2014 deadline.
Mr Smith said he's confident Australia will achieve its objectives within its existing time frame.
"Australia continues to believe that we are on track in Uruzgan Province to transfer responsibility for security to the Afghan ational security forces by 2014 and perhaps earlier," Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith said Australia will maintain a presence in Afghanistan after handing over to Afghan security forces.
The Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, Australia's soldiers should be withdrawn from Afghanistan when their objectives had been secured and not when a fixed date had been reached.
NATO soldier killed
A man in an Afghan army uniform shot dead a soldier with NATO-led forces in southern Afghanistan, just days after four French soldiers died in a similar shooting.
The latest shooting happened on Tuesday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, without giving further details or the nationality of the victim.
"An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against an International Security Assistance Force service member in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing one service member," ISAF said in a statement.
On January 20, a renegade Afghan army soldier turned on his French trainers in Kapisa near the capital Kabul, killing four.
The killings prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to briefly suspend the French training mission in Afghanistan. He later ordered the withdrawal of all French combat troops by 2013, a year earlier than a planned NATO exit.
Dozens of NATO troops have been killed by their Afghan colleagues, and while some deaths have been claimed by Taliban insurgents, analysts say they are seldom ideological but stem from personal antagonism and arguments.
Between May 2007 and May 2011 at least 58 US and NATO personnel were killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers and the police, according to details of a classified coalition report published last month in the New York Times.
The report emphasises the killings are the result of a decade of contempt that each side has for each other, despite being supposed allies in the fight against the Taliban.
The US-led international force is training Afghan's military to take full responsibility for security after NATO ends all combat missions in 2014.
Secret report
A secret NATO report on Afghanistan reports the Taliban are being directly assisted by elements in Pakistan and have widespread support among the Afghan people.
The report reveals elements in Pakistan knows where senior Taliban leaders are living, and in one area the insurgent fighters live near the office of the Pakistan secret service, the ISI.
It also claims that members of the Afghan Government are joining the Taliban and that the insurgents are seen as more popular than President Karzai's Government which is viewed as corrupt.
A senior foreign ministry official has described them as "frivolous".
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201202/3420820.htm?desktop
See also
Panetta: US combat in Afghanistan to end next year
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=71607816
Words of withdrawal in Australia shifted from 2014 to 2013 quite
some time ago, so much so that the "may" at the top feels careful.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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