Fresh troops lift Afghan deployment to 1000 A CONTINGENT of Australian Army commandos headed for southern Afghanistan was farewelled today by Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd. The mostly Sydney-based soldiers from the 4th Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment (Commando) will boost Australia's troop deployment in Afghanistan to about 1,000. Mr Howard wished the troops a successful mission and safe return, saying the deployment was made all the more dangerous by the resurgence of the Taliban. “It is a very important mission,” Mr Howard told the soldiers, many of them sporting new beards, at Sydney's Holsworthy barracks. “If terrorism wins in Afghanistan, that would be bad for our part of the world as well as bad for the people of that country.” Mr Rudd told the soldiers that Labor supported their deployment to Afghanistan. His party, however, does oppose Australia's involvement in the war in Iraq. Mr Rudd said the army's great achievement was defending democracy in Australia and overseas when the call came. “One of the great things about what you do is to defend the lifeblood of our democracy, which makes (political) disagreement possible,” he said. The commandos will deploy as part of a 300-strong Special Operations Task Group into Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan. The task group will be made up of elements of the SAS Regiment, the 4th Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment (Commando), the Incident Response Regiment and logistics support. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said military operations of this nature were dangerous. “The highly trained soldiers within the Special Operations Task Group are likely to face some significant challenges in the conduct of their duties,” he said in a statement. - AAP

Take care and God Bless. I for one, will look forward to hearing of your safe return.

Australia supports you in your efforts to keep us safe

Thankyou

AC