Fed: Aust troops set to target Taliban leadership

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2007
Fed: Aust troops set to target Taliban leadership

By Max Blenkin, Defence Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 13 AAP - On Easter Sunday, a Canadian armoured vehicle patrolling in
southern Afghanistan steered between two ancient water wells and detonated a large makeshift
landmine, instantly killing six soldiers.

They were in the same type of Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) used by Australian troops
in both Iraq and Afghanistan and in an area - Kandahar Province - not far from where Australian
troops now operate and will do so in increasing numbers from mid-year.

The attack underscored what Prime Minister John Howard warned of when announcing Australia's
boosted commitment to Afghanistan this week - it will carry substantial risk.

"There is the distinct possibility of casualties and that should be understood and
prepared for by the Australian public," Mr Howard said.

The government's announcement was no surprise. It's been long predicted and followed
consultations with the US and Afghan governments and the sending of a defence fact-finding
team to Afghanistan to assess the security situation.

Mr Howard said the mission was occurring amid a deterioration in the security situation
in southern Afghanistan.

"It's in Australia's national interest to prevent Afghanistan, as indeed it is in our
national interest to prevent Iraq, becoming a safe haven for terrorism," he said.

Labor agreed.

Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said Afghanistan was where the 2002 Bali bombers trained,
where terror mastermind Osama bin Laden and his retinue were hiding out and where much
heroin bound for Australia originated.

"And for those reasons it's a military campaign which we need to prosecute to the end," he said.

A 400-strong Australian engineering group currently operates from Tarin Khowt in Oruzgan
Province. They perform useful reconstruction work in a bid to convince local people that
life is improving under the Kabul government of President Hamid Karzai.

The centrepiece of the Australian effort is a well-regarded trade school designed to
teach construction skills to local men who can then go out and find work.

Under the plan announced this week, Australian troop numbers will be substantially
expanded, reaching around 950 by mid-year and peaking at 1,000 personnel in mid-2008.

That's more Australian boots on the ground in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

The centrepiece will be a 300-member special operations task group comprising members
of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) and Sydney-based Commando Battalion
and Incident Response regiment.

Australian special forces have operated in Afghanistan twice before - for a year from
November 2001 across southern Afghanistan (150 soldiers) and again for another year from
September 2005 in Oruzgan Province (200 soldiers).

The last mission saw some of the most intense fighting since Vietnam and 30 soldiers
were injured in a series of battles.

But so far just one Australian soldier has died in Afghanistan. Special Air Service
Regiment (SASR) Sergeant Andrew Russell was killed in a mine blast in southern Afghanistan
on February 16, 2002.

This time the force is bigger and they'll stay longer. And the gloves are coming off
with Defence Minister Brendan Nelson clearly signalling their mission is to take out Taliban
leaders.

Dr Nelson said it was vital to engage not only the hearts and minds of Afghans through
the activities of the engineering task group, but also to take the fight to the Taliban.

"We are not interested in engaging the poor sons of farmers and those who are refugees
that have been paid to basically fight with the Taliban," he said.

"Our people will very effectively target the Taliban leadership."

A lesson learned last time was that the Taliban have an abundance of foot soldiers,
many ill-trained village youths, but a relatively small leadership cadre which, if eliminated,
could severely diminish its fighting capability.

The annual cycle of violence in Afghanistan is driven by the climate, rising as snows
melt from mountain passes, allowing militants to move more freely around the countryside.

Warmer weather also allows movement of men and supplies from havens in Pakistan's lawless
tribal territories.

But this year is tipped to be different.

Emboldened by the success of insurgents in Iraq, the Taliban - a catch-all description
which takes in conservative Pashtun tribesmen, al-Qaeda and foreign jihadists as well
as local warlords, bandits and drug dealers - have enthusiastically adopted their tactics.

These include a growing use of suicide bombers and roadside bombs, which in Iraq have
claimed more US lives than any other cause, as well as the internet to publicise attacks
and the killing of hostages.

One characteristic of fighting last year was the vastly disproportionate casualty rates,
with battles typically resulting in dozens and even hundreds of Taliban dead, mostly because
of coalition air strikes.

Defence commentator John Hunter Farrell, publisher of ANZ Defender magazine, who visited
Oruzgan last month, said that had noticeably calmed the province, long regarded as Taliban
heartland.

He said there had been a number of attacks on Dutch and Afghan police positions around
Tarin Khowt, but nothing like what was experienced in 2006 when Australian special forces
engaged in regular and intense combat.

But he said the Taliban appeared to be improving their performance.

"US special forces operators said that local militias had become considerably more
tactically adept in their ambushes since last year, usually choosing choke points in roads
through valleys north of Tarin Khowt," he said.

"The Taliban employed weapons in depth and developed a simple but effective tactic
of using runners to resupply ammunition to frontline fighters and have improved their
ability to withdraw from ambushes."

Australian troops will be operating under the control of the NATO-run International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF). What continues to bug the Australian government is that
just eight of the 37 ISAF nations are actually willing to put their soldiers in parts
of Afghanistan where they might get shot at.

The other 29 impose various caveats including restrictive rules of engagement mainly
aimed at mollifying casualty-averse domestic constituencies.

Both Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer have grumbled about this practice,
with Mr Downer making his displeasure clear during a visit to Europe in February.

Germany is the prime example, with a force of 3,000 troops operating only in the Taliban-free
north.

Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said there appeared to
be marked variations in willingness to fight across ISAF participants.

"This is a real acid test for NATO. They have been given a job by the UN of sorting
out Afghanistan. And yet a large number of NATO countries, whilst they are sending troops
to Afghanistan, aren't really willing to have them engage in combat," he said.

AAP mb/sb/sp

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