One of the key reasons nearly two-thirds of Australians want our troops withdrawn from Afghanistan, and why support for our presence in that country continues to fall, was on display in parliament yesterday, as Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott made statements on the conflict.
The profound disconnection between voters of all stripes and major party politicians over Afghanistan centres on the absence of any sense of progress, which might justify the steady drip of casualties, justify the lives lost and bodies wrecked, or the nearly $1.7 billion we spend there each year. Gillard and Abbott were at pains to try to signify achievements — roads repaired, girls in school, Afghan soldiers trained. They’re not, ultimately, what voters are interested in, especially given the conviction that all will be lost the moment international forces leave the country.
In truth, Gillard and Abbott can’t point to any concrete demonstrations of progress. Both were quick to cite the death of Osama bin Laden, as if that reflected on the security situation in Afghanistan rather than the Byzantine politics of Pakistan. Beyond that, it’s all about assurances that the Taliban has been seriously damaged.
“Important tactical victories have been won fighting al-Qaeda and degrading jihadist networks; maintaining our momentum against the Taliban — cutting into their ability to control territory and provide sanctuary for terrorist groups,” said Gillard, nebulously.
“The Taliban are finding it more difficult to move around or to directly engage coalition or Afghan troops, so have increasingly resorted to roadside bombs,” said Abbott. We’ve been hearing this line for years. Abbott explicitly ruled out any clear indications of victory, saying Afghanistan would be more like Northern Ireland than WW2. Instead, it’s all about “we will see them through”.
At some point, as the Americans found with Vietnam, the rhetoric becomes the sustaining motivation of politicians overseeing such wars, via commitments to “see it through”, to “stand by our allies”, to “get the job done.”
Ultimately, it isn’t Abbott’s job to convince Australians of the merits of the war. He is absolved of responsibility by his role. Responsibility for the growing disaffection of Australians towards the conflict rests with the government, which has at no stage taken seriously the obligation to continually explain to Australians why sacrifices are being made for Afghanistan. Indeed, until prodded by the Greens, Labor wasn’t even interested in a parliamentary debate on a decade-long conflict. Nor, as WikiLeaks cables revealed, has it been honest with voters on its own pessimism about the conflict.
A single annual debate in parliament is not going to turn around Australians’ views about the pointlessness of our commitment to Afghanistan, or even prevent a further hardening of that view. Much more needs to be done by the prime minister and her foreign and defence ministers to explain the war and why our young men are dying in it.
What about the HAZARAS?
With talk of opening dialogue with the Taliban in an effort to extricate the West from an unwinnable war, the issue of the Hazaras is being pointedly ignored.
This minority group who have been persecuted for centuries and who are today the largest single group of refugees and asylum seekers moving around the world seeking refuge, are being deliberately overlooked.
99% of afghans coming to Australia seeking asylum are Hazaras. They are being driven out of Afghanistan by the Pashtuns and Taliban. They are being slaughtered in Pakistan and rounded up and pushed back across the border from Iran.
Next year Pakistan proposes to expel 1.5 million Afghans.
Where will they go if Afghanistan is not safe?
The world’s politicians have form on looking the other way when it comes to minorities and wringing their hands only after a genocide has taken place.
The Australian government wants to deport Hazaras back to the hell from which they have fled. Will we let them ?
Gillard and Abbott have problems with their hearing – the Oz electorate is against our troops being in Afghanistan, we express this clearly enough but it falls on deaf ears.
The same old lies are being told again, the only difference is that in 1968, I actually believed them, silly me
On the bright side, as long as we’re tied down there, we can’t go haring off in pursuit of another ill-considered, vainglorious quest – on some political whim, aimed more at impressing “big brother” – like these other two “Howard legacies”.
It is quite obvious that other than the sycophantic Australian politicians that our involvement in Afghanistan is a complete waste of time. We are supporting a venal government riddled with corruption and self-serving activity which has squirrelled away billions of dollars of aid money in foreign banks in preparation for the eventual collapse. The whole thing reminds me of the “all with the way with LBJ mantra” which lead us into the Vietnam war disaster. If the Afghan people won’t fight for their freedom let them put up with the consequences.
The US went into Afghanistan to catch Osama bin Laden and there is now no reason why US or Australian troops should be in that country now that he is dead. Karzai’s recent comments that he would fight with Pakistan against the US is just an indication of the analytical capacity of the morons in the so-called Afghan government that we are supporting. To add insight injury now we are being forced to accept Afghan refugees from the war in which we are participating. We should get out now.