No more safe havens

Aussies 'taking fight to Taliban'
By Max Blenkin in Kabul
July 19, 2007

IN just over a month of operations in Afghanistan, Australian special forces have fought the Taliban, inflicting unknown casualties.

No Australians have been hurt.

In a rare interview, the commander of Australian special forces, Major-General Mike Hindmarsh, said the priority job of the 300-member task group was to create a secure environment for the Australian reconstruction task force to operate in Oruzgan province in south-central Afghanistan.

Their job is also to take the fight directly to the Taliban.

This is a region which formed the heartland of the former Taliban regime and the insurgents have long used the rugged and remote country as a sanctuary.

Major General Hindmarsh confirmed that the Australian troops patrolling in the Oruzgan hinterland had been in contact with Taliban forces.

"There have been a number of smallish contacts which have been successful from our point of view," he said.

Asked about Taliban casualties, Major General Hindmarsh declined to go into detail.

"But it has gone well," he said.

The Australian special forces task group comprise members of the Special Air Service Regiment, army commando battalion, plus support units.

Major General Hindmarsh said their mode of operation was not to wait for the Taliban to come to them.

"It is actually to go to them," he said.

"It's to go to their areas that they traditionally have regarded as their sanctuaries, their safe-havens, where they have felt safe, where they can regenerate, recuperate and prepare for future operations in places such as Kandahar or Tarin Khowt.

"We want to take the battle to them and make them uncomfortable in the areas where ordinarily they have been very comfortable.

"This is what disruption is all about and we do that for long periods of time."

Major General Hindmarsh said this was a characteristic of the way Australian special forces did business.

"We get out there and spend a long time in their areas, which is not something they are used to."

During the last deployment of special forces to Afghanistan, which ended a year ago, Australian troops faced some of their toughest fighting since Vietnam.

This time around, many of the same troops are again operating on familiar terrain.

Major General Hindmarsh said the troops strongly believed what they were doing was worthwhile.

"Generally speaking, the Afghans are very courageous, stoic people who want to get on with their lives.

"The Taliban on the other side are totally the bloody opposite – they are a nasty piece of work.

"And so the soldiers feel that what they are doing is improving the livelihood of the general population and that is a good thing.

"If they are going to put their lives in harms way, we want to do it for a meaningful purpose and they feel they are."