Australia will send 150 elite troops to Afghanistan by September to fight a growing tide of insurgent-led violence spearheaded by al-Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban, the prime minister said yesterday.
The troops would comprise Special Air Service Regiment soldiers, commandos and support personnel, Prime Minister John Howard said.
"It's fair to say that the progress that's been made in the establishment of a legitimate government in Afghanistan has come under increasing attack and pressure from the Taliban in particular and some elements of al-Qaeda," Howard told reporters.
"We have received at a military level requests from both the United States and others and also the government of Afghanistan and we have therefore decided ... to dispatch a special forces task group," he added.
One year
The troops would be in place by September and remain in the country for a year, he said.
The Australian defense department would also consider sending up to 200 troops as part of a reconstruction team to Afghanistan early next year, he said.
Australia sent about 1,500 military personnel, including 150 Special Air Service troops, to support the US-led war that ousted the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in late 2001, but currently has only one soldier there involved in mine clearance.
Howard said that the new deployment would have a separate Australian national command, although the task group would be under the operational control of US forces.
`Preserve'
"We think its important that the progress made in Afghanistan is preserved and consolidated and that the resurgence of violence and the resurgence of attempts by the Taliban to undermine the government of that country are not successful," he said.
The US-trained Afghan army now numbers 26,000 and regularly fights alongside troops from the 20,000-strong US-led coalition. A separate NATO-led force of 8,000 soldiers is responsible for security in Kabul and the nation's north and west. But the forces in Afghanistan are struggling to contain unprecedented fighting by insurgents that has left more than 700 people dead in three months and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace.
US and Afghan officials have warned violence is likely to worsen before legislative elections in September.
Australia has resisted pressure from its allies in the so-called "coalition of the willing," NATO and Afghanistan to provide more military support since it withdrew most of its forces in late 2002.
Howard said Australia was now better placed to send soldiers because the army's peace keeping mission in East Timor had ended and was winding down in the Solomon Islands.
The announcement comes before the prime minister's departure tomorrow for a 10-day visit to the US and Britain.
Howard has denied media reports that the UK wants Australia to play a greater role in Iraq, saying the current commitment of 1,400 troops in and around that country was appropriate and no official request for more had come from London.
The opposition Labor Party has long called for more Australian troops in Afghanistan to fight terrorism but urges a withdrawal from Iraq.
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