Howard Doubles Troop Numbers To Afghanistan

It would seem that after much speculation and debate Australia will increase it's Military Personnel in Afghanistan..

AUSTRALIA'S defence deployment to Afghanistan will be doubled, with special forces charged to aggressively hunt down Taliban leadership and disrupt its resurgent terrorist network. The existing 400 personal working with the Dutch in a Reconstruction Task Force in the Oruzgan province in the troublesome south, will be joined by a Special Operations taskforce made up of Special Air Service soldiers, Commandoes and a "solid intelligence capability", as well as an additional RAAF air surveillance radar group at Kandahar airport. The present deployment of 120 special protection soldiers, rotated every six months, will be extended for another 18 months. Two Chinouks helicopters will be returned and joined by an Hercules C-130J aircraft operating broadly across the Middle East. The announcement means that Australia will have more than 900 personnel deployed by the middle of the year, peaking at over 1000 by the middle of 2008. The deployment, first revealed in The Australian on February 22, means there will be more soldiers on the ground than in Iraq, although the full deployment of army, navy and air force in Iraq remains larger. Link

But here's the shocker.....Kevin Rudd is SUPPORTING the move!!

Rudd backs decision to lift Afghanistan deployment April 10, 2007 LABOR Leader Kevin Rudd has backed Prime Minister John Howard's decision to send 300 more troops to Afghanistan. Australia will send a 300-strong special forces task group back to Afghanistan to help counter the expected Taliban (northern hemisphere) summer offensive, taking total troop numbers on the ground to 950 by the middle of this year. Mr Rudd said Afghanistan was a breeding ground for terrorists and needed to be brought under control. "What we've got there is Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida, the original terrorists responsible for September 11," Mr Rudd said on Southern Cross radio. "(It's also) the area which provided the training for those who engaged in the bombings in Bali, which killed nearly 100 Australians. And for those reasons it's a military campaign which we need to prosecute to the end." Link

He goes on to get a little dig in about the Aussie Troops being pulled out to early in 2002 but nobody pays attention to much of what he says so it really doesn't matter.

As we watch more Aussies move into potentially dangerous areas in Afghanistan let us hope and pray, as we do for all Coalition Service Members, that they will be kept safe and be returned to their loved ones as soon as the job is done.

A_C