In a sombre speech last week, as an opener to the Parliamentary debate on this country’s involvement in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Australia would remain involved in the Afghanistan war for much of this decade.
After nine years of fighting Ms Gillard acknowledged that progress towards security and stability in Afghanistan was only tentative and that “any gains come off a very low base, any advances made are fragile”.
However she emphasised Australian troops would not be leaving until the task of training Afghan troops was completed and Afghan security forces were able to operate fully independently.
“The international community will remain engaged in Afghanistan beyond 2014, and Australia will remain engaged.
“There will still be a need for Australians in a supporting role.
“There will be a role for training and other defence cooperation.”