SAS - Excellent Australian Manner

PM asks Pakistan to curb Taliban
Greg Sheridan and Bruce Loudon
April 14, 2007

JOHN Howard has written to Pakistan's military dictator, imploring him to do more to stop the flow of Taliban forces into southern Afghanistan in an effort to reduce the threat to Australian troops being sent to the region.

As Australia was preparing to double its troop commitment in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister told Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf in a personal letter sent in February, that the Taliban flow from Pakistan threatened the lives of Australian troops sent to Oruzgan province.

But General Musharraf yesterday lashed out at Western critics of his attitude to the Taliban and al-Qa'ida, bluntly threatening to quit the war on terror unless criticism of him abated.

US President George W.Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Western leaders have put pressure on General Musharraf to crack down on terrorist activities along the border between his country and Afghanistan.

Western military analysts believe Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency is continuing some level of co-operation with the Taliban - a claim General Musharraf attacked this week.
"If we are bluffing each other, if I am bluffing and the ISI is bluffing, then we must be out of the coalition," he told a stunned audience at an international land forces symposium, in the capital Islamabad, being attended by representatives of 22 countries, including Australia.

"We have suffered the maximum and we have contributed the maximum. Therefore we will not accept that Pakistan is not doing enough in the war against terror.

"It pains me that people say that we are not doing enough. It is painful when somebody doubts us, as we have contributed maximum and suffered maximum."

On Tuesday, Mr Howard announced the doubling of Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan, including the deployment of a 300-strong Special Forces Group consisting of the SAS, commandos and an intelligence component. A key task of the SAS will be hunting down Taliban leaders.

But The Weekend Australian has learned that before the commitment, the Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, was forced to engage in lengthy and difficult negotiations with his Dutch counterpart, General DLBerlijn, over the rules of engagement.

Australia wanted to be part of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, rather than the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Enduring Freedom would have allowed the Australians greater scope to hunt down and kill Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

But the NATO rules of engagement required the European troops to operate under more restrictive rules, with a focus on rebuilding and reconstruction efforts.

Ultimately, the Australians and the Dutch compromised. The additional Australians will be part of the International Security Assistance Force but will interpret their rules of engagement in an Australian manner.