Defence Minister Peter Dutton says there are no plans for Australian troops to return to Afghanistan By political reporter Matthew Doran
Australian troops will not return to Afghanistan, even if the nation s security deteriorates in the coming years, according to new Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
This year s Anzac Day commemorations will be the last marked with Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel deployed in Afghanistan.
Of the more than 39,000 Australian troops who have served in the country over the past two decades, only 80 remain there.
The decision has sparked fresh concerns about the stability of the country, with violence across Afghanistan escalating and peace talks with the Taliban having stalled.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton s reversal on military citation for some Afghanistan SAS troops misses point theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Age,
The
Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes have published images allegedly found in a plastic container in the garden of Australia’s most decorated corporal, Ben Roberts-Smith.
The images show at least one of these elite soldiers dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit holding up a noose, and others drinking from a war trophy the prosthetic leg of an alleged Taliban fighter.
In an effort to stop whistle blowers, Roberts-Smith is suing the media, with the support of media magnate and his boss Kerry Stokes, who also happens to be the Australian War Memorial chair.
Information previously leaked by whistleblowers led to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force authorising an investigation. The highly redacted Afghanistan Inquiry by Major General Paul Brereton, released last November, looked into the conduct of Australia’s special forces, including the alleged murder of 39 Afghan people.
Australian War Memorial council backs Kerry Stokes to stay chairman in wake of war crimes report
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updated
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MarMarch 2021 at 8:00pm
There have been calls for Mr Stokes to stand aside as chairman of the Memorial s council over his support for accused soldiers.
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The Australian War Memorial has backed its chairman Kerry Stokes despite concerns about his ongoing support for special forces soldiers investigated for war crimes.
Key points:
Mr Stokes raised concerns about the impact of coverage of his support for veterans on the Memorial s reputation at a meeting in November
The council unanimously supported Mr Stokes to remain chairman
Findings of Brereton s SAS inquiry should be tested in court
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In terms of risk, few contracts are more unequal than the one between a nation s government and the soldiers it sends abroad to fight its wars. It is one of the reasons our society has devoted such resources and public space to commemoration of those soldiers sacrifice.
But it is also one of the reasons that it has always been difficult for us to accept the idea of war crimes, which are based on the laws of war, which in turn say that those we have determined to be our enemies and the foreigners they live among are owed some consideration from those we send to fight them, even as that deadly fight continues.