Australia withdraws Afghanistan troops

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/26/australia-withdraws-afghanistan-troops

Australia withdraws Afghanistan troops

At least 1,000 soldiers to be home by end of 2013 as security in Uruzgan province is handed over to Afghans

Associated Press in Canberra

• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 March 2013 00.08 EDT

An Australian soldier in Afghanistan. Most of the contingent will pull out by the end of 2013. Photograph: Corporal Bernard Pearson/AP/Australian Defence Department

Australia has announced two-thirds of its troops in Afghanistan will be home by the end of the 2013 when the international military base at Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province closes.

The defence minister, Stephen Smith, said at least 1,000 of the 1,550 Australian troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn by the end of the year.

Australia has the 10th largest national force in Afghanistan and is the largest military contributor outside Nato. Australia also has the largest number of special forces in the campaign after the United States and Britain.

Military involvement is supported by both the Australian government and opposition but its popularity among the Australian public has plummeted as the war has dragged on for 12 years. In that time 39 Australian troops have died and 249 have been wounded.

International forces have a deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, leaving Afghanistan responsible for its own security nationwide.

The decision by the US-led International Security Assistance Force to draw down and close the base at Tarin Kowt was made after consultation with Australia and Afghan authorities and was in line with the timetable to give Afghan security forces full responsibility for the province by the end of the year, Smith said.

"This is the most significant decision and announcement that has been made so far as our withdrawal from Afghanistan is concerned, so far as our redeployment is concerned and so far as success of transition is occurring," Smith said.

"If we were not confident that transition would occur in Uruzgan by the end of this year then this decision would not have been made."

The Australian defence force chief, Lieutenant General David Hurley, said there were still decisions pending on the further use of Australian special forces in Afghanistan after 2014.

The Australian military's main focus in Afghanistan is to train an Afghan army brigade to take responsibility for security in the province.

Since November last year all four infantry battalions, known in Afghanistan as kandaks, within the brigade had been operating independently without Australian advisers in the province. Australian troops no longer conduct joint patrols with Afghan units.

But Australian troops remain combat-ready and special forces continue to conduct combat operations with their Afghan counterparts against insurgents.

Australia operates two camps within Tarin Kowt: Camp Russell and Camp Holland. Camp Russell is where Australia's special operations troops are based. Camp Holland is a larger area where the remainder of Australia's military and civilian personnel in Uruzgan are based as well as the Tarin Kowt headquarters.

Smith said planning had commenced to transfer all of Camp Russell and a portion of Camp Holland to the Afghan government by the end of 2013.

In 2014 small numbers of Australian troops will remain in Afghanistan training the Afghan military in Kabul and Kandahar.