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Down Under

Australia to withdraw troops from Afghanistan 'by 2013'

2012-04-17

Australia is set to bring its troops home from Afghanistan a year earlier than planned with most soldiers withdrawn in 2013, reports said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was expected to make the announcement during a speech to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute later in the day, outlining a timetable she will take to a NATO summit in Chicago next month.

Canberra has faced increasing pressure over the long-running Afghan campaign and a 2013 pull-out date will be a year in advance of the 2014 deadline previously laid down by NATO-led international forces.

It will also mean most Australian troops are likely to be home before the next election. Gillard is struggling in opinion polls and many people are against the deployment to Afghanistan.

In her speech notes obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, Gillard reportedly says "the peoples of the world's democracies are weary of this war".

And the Taliban aren't. That sorta says it all, doesn't it...

"I'm now confident that Chicago will recognise mid-2013 as a key milestone in the international strategy," the speech notes said.

"A crucial point when the international forces will be able to move to a supporting role across all of Afghanistan."

Posted by:tipper

#2 Once again, I salute you diggers!

25 April 18 May 1915

For the men of the Anzac Corps, the Anzacs Australians and New Zealanders assisted by Indian Army troops and the British Royal Naval Division the Battle of the Landing at Gallipoli lasted from 25 April to 3 May. During that period, they drove back a number of strong Turkish counter-attacks aimed at driving them into the sea, as well as launching attacks to secure their own positions. By 3 May, a defensible line had been established inland from the landing beaches along what was known as Second Ridge, and this small area of Gallipoli was soon known as Anzac. According to the official historian, Charles Bean, the Battle of the Landing cost Australia and New Zealand 8000 casualties, of whom 2300 were killed. Bean summed up this loss in these words:

They were men their countries could ill afford to lose. But with their lives they purchased a tradition beyond all human power to appraise, and set for all time the standard of conduct for the Australian and New Zealand soldier. A brilliant despatch from Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, published a few days after the Landing, brought the effort of these young nations before the world in a manner that some speak of to this day as if the landings were an affair of Australasian troops alone

[Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol 1, Sydney, 1941, p 605]

Posted by: Besoeker 2012-04-17 03:28

#1 I always said them Ausies were smart.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-17 00:55

00:00