{"id":980,"date":"2015-10-04T02:01:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T02:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=980"},"modified":"2015-10-04T07:06:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T07:06:50","slug":"afghanistan-president-ashraf-ghani-asks-for-continued-australian-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=980","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani asks for continued Australian support"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"president\"<\/a>The Turnbull government is set to review Australia’s planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan following pressure from the Kabul\u00a0government to slow\u00a0down the pull out amid a Taliban resurgence.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Marise Payne announced on Friday that Australia was cutting its numbers in the country to 250 following the completion of training and advisory missions in the country’s south, where Australia has had forces since 2005.<\/p>\n

The final 250 will be located mainly in\u00a0Kabul to\u00a0act as advisors and mentors to\u00a0Afghan security forces.<\/p>\n

All forces are scheduled to leave by 2016 but\u00a0AFR Weekend<\/em> understands\u00a0the Afghanistan draw-down\u00a0will be discussed between the defence\u00a0and foreign affairs minsters of Australia and the US at the AUSMIN talks in Bo<\/p>\n

The issue was raised with Ms Bishop in New York\u00a0this week during\u00a0a meeting with her Afghan counterpart but was first brought to Ms Bishop’s attention\u00a0when she visited Afghanistan in January.<\/p>\n

During an hour-long meeting in the nation’s capital,\u00a0Afghanistan’s new President Ashraf\u00a0Ghani\u00a0urged the Australia and the west\u00a0to stay involved in his country\u00a0longer than the planned withdrawal date.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Ms Bishop described the case put by President Ghani as “compelling”.<\/p>\n

“He is an impressive figure. He has made the case that the timeframe may well need to be adjusted, depending upon the opportunities and the challenges that present over the next two years,” Ms Bishop said at the time.<\/p>\n

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Australia began its withdrawal from Afghanistan under Tony Abbott’s prime ministership. At the time there were about\u00a0400 trainers and special forces in the country under the the NATO-led mission called\u00a0Resolute Support. There are now 250 left.<\/p>\n

But as predicted by many, the withdrawal of Western troops has seen\u00a0the Taliban once more gain the ascendancy. On\u00a0Friday, the Afghan government claimed it had retaken from the\u00a0Taliban the city of Kunduz, following three days of fighting.<\/p>\n

The situation is one of two military challenges facing the Mr Turnbull. Just before he was ousted, Mr Abbott committed Australian Air Force jets to the US-led bombing mission inside Iraq.<\/p>\n

This has suddenly become more dangerous and uncertain following the entry of Russia into the conflict and its alleged bombing of US-backed rebels in support of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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Tensions are high between Washington and Moscow which claims its planes were bombing Islamic State targets inside Syria.<\/p>\n

In a three-page statement released Friday afternoon, the Russian embassy in Canberra insisted the more than 20 Russian air strikes over the past three days had targeted ISIS.<\/p>\n

It slammed the 60-nation, US-led coalition\u00a0of acting in contravention of international law because it “never talked to the government of Syria and never came to the (United Nations) Security Council”.<\/p>\n

“If they had done so, and also engaged not only Iraqi government but also Syrian leadership, we would have much more efficient bases for promoting out common goal of not allowing the terrorists to succeed in this key region of the world,” it says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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“Whenever some countries act bypassing the United Nations, whenever they try to use force not asking the Security Council to consider a special situation and to issue necessary mandate, people undermine the United Nations’ authority.<\/p>\n

The Russians said the West made the same mistakes in Iraq. Libya and Yugoslavia “and in all these cases, these countries did not benefit”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: AFR<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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