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Saturday July 31, 2010

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Posted by: 3AW and The Age | 9 March, 2010 - 9:30 AM
Kevin Rudd speaks to 3AW after a 10th Australian soldier was killed

PLAYING NOW: 'John' - a man with considerable insight into the life of an Australian soldier - speaks to 3AW Breakfast about concern over the limitations our diggers face in terms of what they can achieve.

REPORT (Rafael Epstein - The Age): Australia's restrictions on the deployment of its troops in Afghanistan have sparked a serious rift between military leaders in Washington and Canberra, and are likely to be a key issue during President Barack Obama's visit later this month.

The coalition's top military commander in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has warned that the Rudd government's refusal to allow Australian troops to take the fight to the Taliban was impairing the US-led war effort.

General McChrystal delivered the warning in a private phone call late last year to Australian Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has blocked moves to send Australian-trained Afghan soldiers, and their Australian mentors, to the latest NATO offensive in Marjah in Helmand province.

Senior military sources said General McChrystal had used ''blunt language'', complaining that Canberra was making his job ''incredibly difficult''. The sources told The Age there was potential for ''permanent damage'' to the US percep- htion of Australia's military commitment.

The issue was due to be raised in January during a scheduled visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. Military leaders say there was great relief in Air Chief Marshal Houston's office when Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates cancelled their trip because of the Haiti earthquake.

The Age has been told the issue has already been raised at senior military and diplomatic levels and will be discussed when Mr Obama visits Australia at the end of the month.

Marjah was a specific example of what the American military sees as a general reluctance by Australia to send its troops outside Uruzgan province, where they are based.

A senior Australian military source said the bitter exchange resulted from an alliance that is a ''perishable relationship which needs sustenance''.

The source says American frustration was expressed to him in this way by a senior US military commander: ''When all is said and done, there will be three nations in this conflict - the US, Britain and the Afghans. So what is Australia doing for us?''

Australia has in the past criticised European nations for restricting the regions where their forces could fight. Last year NATO's overall military commander, US General John Craddock, said such limits ''increase the risk to every service member deployed in Afghanistan and bring increased risk to mission success''.

General Craddock spoke about the ''teeth sucking'' sound that follows any request to commit resources.

US-led forces have for the past few weeks been attacking the Taliban in Marjah. When planning the operation last year, the regional coalition commander, with General McChrystal's backing, informally asked if a battalion of Afghan soldiers and their Australian mentors could be deployed outside Uruzgan.

Three senior military officers told The Age that Australia resisted this. The constant theme, they said, was that no formal request should be made because it would be refused. Not making the request would ''make life simpler'' for Australia's military and political leaders.

The US military leadership is frustrated with Mr Rudd, who, when he last met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, sought an undertaking that the Afghan National Army's 4th Brigade would not deploy outside Uruzgan. This included their Australian mentors, keeping them away from Helmand where the fighting is more fierce and frequent.

Even in Uruzgan, the US military is concerned that Canberra severely restricts night patrols.

The US is also frustrated that it often takes weeks and even more than a month simply to obtain permission for Australian special forces to fight outside the province. The Age has been told the delays come even after permission has been granted by Australian commanders in the Middle East.

Other coalition nations such as France have received similar requests from General McChrystal, and last year French-led Afghan troops left their home province.

A senior Australian officer said that while the US military believed in staying in Afghanistan until the job was done, the US ''don't perceive we're prepared to do the same''.

The office of the Chief of Defence said Air Chief Marshal Houston could not respond because he was travelling.

Blog comments Your Say

  • A senior Australian officer said that while the US military believed in staying in Afghanistan until the job was done, the US ''don't perceive we're prepared to do the same''.

    Someone please explain 'The job!'

    Don't fuddle, get to the point! ...You bloody well can't, can you?

    Bring our troops home NOW!

    Oldfart Wednesday 10 March, 2010 - 1:24 PM

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