Getting the job done

Aussie hits on Taliban

Lauren Wilson and Mark Dodd January 28, 2008

AUSTRALIAN special forces fighting in Afghanistan have been successful in targeting and assassinating key Taliban leaders, but at the cost of civilian casualties, a new article claims.

Time magazine today has for the first time detailed some of the secret operations undertaken by Australian troops, including an incident in which they killed 33 Taliban militants in one day.

The article reveals how they dropped a bomb on the Taliban boss of the province of Oruzgan, Qari Faizullah Mohammed, as he sat under an almond tree at Tora Chena, near Tarin Kowt.

They also tracked another rebel leader, Mullah Pi Mohammed, into the mountains near Deh Roshan, killing him and his Taliban fighters. Afghan police reported that it was Australian soldiers who killed the senior Taliban member, Mullah Sadullah, near Tarin Kowt.

While much media coverage has focused on Australia's 400-strong reconstruction taskforce in Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan province, the Time article reveals allegations that there have been many civilian casualties from the Australian troops' operations.

Successful as the Australians have been, "with Australian special forces, sometimes civilians are getting killed", says General Mohammed Sabir, commander of the Afghan army brigade in Oruzgan.

An Australian Defence Force spokesman refused to comment on incidents, operations or tactics, but said Australian troops took all reasonable steps to avoid endangering the lives of non-combatants.

The Time article sheds new light on the death last year of commando Luke Worsley, the third Australian killed fighting the Taliban.

Worsley was reportedly shot dead as he entered a home in what was believed to be an extremist Taliban compound in Chenartu village, in southern Afghanistan.

Six members of the Daad family were also killed by International Security Assistance Force soldiers in the bloody shootout.

It is understood Taliban members were scheduled to meet at the family residence on the night, and Australian soldiers launched a strike on the compound.

The ISAF pays compensation to the families of killed civilians. It is reported that about $1200 was paid out to survivors of the raid at Chenartu.

The publication of these revelations coincides with news that the Royal Australian Navy is considering a Dutch offer to provide advanced training for sailors and officers expected to crew Australia's two yet-to-be-built $3 billion amphibious warships.

The two countries are already co-operating in Afghanistan, where the Dutch army provides a key overwatch role in providing security for an Australian reconstruction taskforce.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23118617-31477,00.html