Fed: Afghanistan deployment overshadowed by footy retirement

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2007
Fed: Afghanistan deployment overshadowed by footy retirement

By Maria Hawthorne, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 10 AAP - John Howard's decision to send hundreds more Australians to
fight in Afghanistan was overshadowed today - in the eastern states at least - by a footballer's
retirement.

It's a mark of how uncontroversial the war in Afghanistan is that it was bumped out
of the headlines by the end of Andrew Johns' rugby league career.

The 300 members of the special operations task group will face extreme danger in Afghanistan
as they attempt to stop the country becoming a bolt hole for terrorists.

But both sides of politics have welcomed the decision to boost troop numbers to 950
by the middle of this year and 1,000 next year.

While the Iraq war has become increasingly unpopular as it spirals into a bloody civil
conflict, there is strong public support for fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The gap between the experience of troops on the ground in Iraq and the public perception
of the value of the effort there worries defence lobby group the Australia Defence Association.

Association head Neil James says Iraq war veterans almost unanimously see progress
being made and think the efforts there should continue.

But the public mood has swung away from supporting the war.

"That's the sort of disconnect we had in Vietnam," Mr James said.

The prime minister describes it as the "good war, bad war" argument.

"Our position is very simply this, that if it's good enough and justified enough and
desirable that we deny the terrorists a victory in Afghanistan, why isn't it equally good
enough, desirable enough and wise enough to deny the terrorists a victory in Iraq?" Mr
Howard said.

"And that is why we're in both countries."

He denies that this latest deployment is an admission that the troops came out too
early in late 2002.

But Labor leader Kevin Rudd says allied troops let Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda off
the hook in 2002.

Afghanistan is a training ground for terrorists and therefore a military campaign is
appropriate, Mr Rudd says.

"It's different to Iraq, which is primarily a civil war between Sunni and Shia factions
of Islam," he said.

"And that's why we believe that country (Iraq) primarily requires a political solution
rather than a military solution."

AAP mfh/sb/lh/nf

KEYWORD: AFGHAN AUST (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS)

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