Peter RogersAfghanistan & Pakistan
January 5th 2008 08:01
January 5, 2008.
Three Australian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in two months of fighting late last year, but nonetheless, Head of the Army, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, says Australia's efforts in southern Afghanistan are effective.
This begs the question; on what grounds can you define effective? The Taliban are gaining a healthy resurgence in many parts of Afghanistan, particularly in the north of the country.
And did you hear that Republican presidential contender, Rudy Giuliani, has called for a doubling of US combat troops in Afghanistan as part of a broader military expansion? In other words a Bush-style surge as seen in Iraq mid-2007. Not sure about you, but I'm a little tired of Republican foreign-policy in the Middle-East.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Pakistan, security forces have killed up to 25 Al Qaeda-linked militants in fighting in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.
I can only suggest this is a call from President Musharraf to take some off the heat off his party, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the government clampdown a month earlier. By looking as if you're "anti-terrorist", you are sure to get some American brownie points!
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