US warns of more terror in Afghanistan

SYDNEY—US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday tipped more terrorist attacks and bombings and fewer all-out battles as Afghanistan moves into its annual summer campaign season. Mr Gates said on every occasion the Taliban stood and fought, they lost.
But the problem remained there were too few coalition and Afghan government forces to hold territory and maintain security against insurgents to allow economic development. He said the key to long-term success was clearly building up Afghanistan’s army and police.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon last week announced a 70-strong Australian training team would work with an Afghan army battalion and on Sunday it was announced it also would assist in training Afghan police. Australia has just over 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, operating in Oruzgan province in what was once the Taliban’s heartland. Three Australian soldiers died in action late last year.
Mr Gates, in Canberra for the annual Australia-US Ministerial consultations (AUSMIN), said the nature of the Afghanistan conflict was changing with the Taliban realising they could not defeat NATO forces in conventional battle, even with hundreds of combatants. “They lose all the time when they do that,” he told reporters. “What we are likely to see is more use of terror, killing of school teachers, local officials, things like that, the use of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) to try and sap the will of coalition partners as well as the Afghans and to bring discredit to the Afghan government because of its seeming inability to bring security to the rural areas.”
Mr Gates said there had been military success over the last year with the Taliban occupying no territory and winning no engagements. “The problem is that while we are able to clear the Taliban in certain areas when we have an operation, we don’t have enough force to be able to hold some of these areas,” he said.
“The way to deal with that long-term is clearly the Afghan National Army and Afghan National police to be able to hold while economic development provides local security. It has to be a partnership between ourselves and the Afghans, with more and more of the effort gradually shifting to the Afghans.” Mr Gates said the Australians had made an important contribution in Afghanistan.
“They have the respect of all the people on the front lines in Afghanistan,” he said. Mr Rudd said plainly there was a need for better police training in Afghanistan. “We have been reviewing the need for that into the future,” he told reporters in Sydney. “Whatever commitment we make will be modest and within our own resources and won’t detract from our capabilities elsewhere.
“It is quite plain there are gaps with the Afghan National Police. Together with other countries we will be looking to making sure that those training needs are met on the basis of everyone pitching in. Our own contribution will be modest.” Mr Smith said the training would be performed by the Australian Federal Police. Current there are four AFP officers in Afghanistan in a liaison and counter-narcotics role.

—Agencies