Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne Ports for his question. As was anticipated, in his State of the Union address today President Obama made some important remarks about progress in Afghanistan. In particular, the President has announced the plans of the United States of America for the gradual draw-down of its own troops currently in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan the United States currently has around 68,000 troops. President Obama has outlined the gradual draw-down of these troops as we move to Afghan led security of the Afghan nation. I would remind the House that we expect Afghan forces, by around the middle of this year, to be in the lead for security across all of Afghanistan.

I welcome the announcement by President Obama today, and I was pleased to discuss it and its implications with the US Defense secretary Leon Panetta this morning. We had the opportunity to talk about President Obama's announcement and what that means for the transition strategy in Afghanistan.

The NATO ISAF transition strategy in Afghanistan is working and is on track. What the transition strategy means is that, as Afghan local forces step up, the international community takes a step back. The fact that this can happen reflects the progress we have made in Afghanistan. It reflects the increasing capabilities of local forces, the significant weakening of the insurgency and the fact that al-Qaeda has been hit hard. Australia is leading the transition process in Uruzgan province and we expect this to be completed by the end of 2013. At the same time, we are working with the United States and other fellow NATO ISAF members to plan for the post-2014 period.

We have a long-term development partnership with Afghanistan. We have said we will participate in the NATO train, advise and assist mission in the post-2014 period. We have made a substantial financial contribution to sustaining local forces beyond 2014, and we have indicated we would consider special forces having an ongoing role under the right mandate. We continue to support the peace and reconciliation process that needs to be and is Afghan led. We do not underestimate the challenges ahead but our goal of an Afghanistan that will never again be a safe haven for international terrorism is within reach.

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