The war in Afghanistan is likely to last at least another decade and 10,000 more foreign troops are needed there now, Australian military and political leaders said Wednesday. I would say it’s an endeavour that will last at least 10 years," the head of the defence force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told a parliamentary committee.
Taliban rebels still control large parts of the southern Uruzgan province where most of Australia’s 1,000 troops are deployed, Houston said, despite some successes by special forces units.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, meanwhile, said at least 10,000 more troops were needed to fight the rebellion but they were unlikely to be provided by European nations.
About 70,000 troops provided by the United States and NATO countries are helping Afghan forces against the Taliban, who were ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001.
"I am of the view that we need at the very least an additional 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and to be frank I don’t see any Europeans who look likely to put up substantial numbers any time soon," Fitzgibbon told the national AAP news agency in an interview.
"I fear it will fall to the US to do a lot on the military front and I sense a willingness on their part to do so. But, of course, they have enormous concurrency issues. They are overstretched."
Fitzgibbon ruled out Australia committing more troops to Afghanistan.
"We are the largest non-NATO contributor. We are the 10th largest contributor overall and we are just not prepared to do more while ever we are of the view that there are others that could be doing more," he said.
"Just as importantly, we simply don’t have the capacity."
Their insurgency left 8,000 people dead last year, most of them rebels. This year, 70 foreign soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan, according to an AFP count
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