Updated on
Summary
Australia may start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in three years if its mission to train Afghan National Army soldiers goes as planned, the defense minister said Wednesday. The latest information from the Australian Defense Force indicated the training mission could be completed anywhere between two and four years, defense chief John Faulkner said. Australia's force of 1,550 troops in southern Uruzgan province would then begin withdrawing over the next 12 months, he said. Faulkner's comments marked the first time an Australian official has offered a possible timetable on plans to begin pulling forces out of the war-torn country. Faulkner's announcement came after three Australian commandos were killed in a helicopter crash this week, bringing the country's death toll in the Afghan campaign to 16. Polls show public support for Australian military involvement in Afghanistan is waning. Australia's central focus in Afghanistan has been the training of an Afghan National Army, which was expected to take between three to five years before Afghans could take responsibility for security in Uruzgan. The best advice available to government is that Australia should complete its training mission with the Afghan National Army in a period of between two and four years, Faulkner told reporters. At the conclusion of that mission, I would expect to see our mission transition from a training mission to an over-watch role. This is what happened in Iraq, he said.
