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Less than a month after abandoning its Kabul post, Australia is considering re-establishing a presence in Afghanistan to monitor the resurgence of the Taliban.

Source : PortMac.News | Independent :

Source : PortMac.News | Independent | News Story:

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Australia considering future return to Afghanistan
Less than a month after abandoning its Kabul post, Australia is considering re-establishing a presence in Afghanistan to monitor the resurgence of the Taliban.

News Story Summary:

The last Australian diplomats, military and intelligence officers quietly left the war-torn country on June 18 despite serious doubts about the strategic wisdom of the retreat.

But the ABC has been told Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who is known to have been very reluctant about leaving Afghanistan, remains inclined to stage a careful return in the next few months.

A spokesman for Senator Payne said Australia's diplomatic arrangements in Afghanistan "were always expected to be temporary, with the intention of resuming a permanent presence once circumstances permit." 

"That remains our position. We continue to engage closely with partners, including the Afghanistan government and coalition member countries.

"We will not comment on intelligence matters."

Though no formal planning is underway, the early thinking is that an Australian return would initially involve stationing intelligence officers, possibly within the CIA's Kabul headquarters.

If deemed sufficiently safe, Australian diplomats might return to the Afghan capital, although reopening the Australian embassy inside Kabul's walled-off green zone might not be immediate.

Instead, Australia would likely ask the United States or Britain to temporarily house officials.

There is concern inside the foreign service that the Afghanistan withdrawal of all Australian personnel is limiting real-time, on-the-spot intelligence in a critical Middle East hot spot.

The Taliban is making steady territorial gains, claiming to have retaken nearly 200 of the 421 districts, mostly in the north and north-west of the country. Some retreating Afghan soldiers have crossed the border into Tajikistan.

There is some anxiety in intelligence circles that with the peace process teetering and Taliban militants steadily advancing towards Kabul, the Afghan capital might fall by year's end.

If the Taliban did take Kabul and the fragile Afghan government toppled, Australia and other nations would need to establish lines of communication with the Taliban leadership, if not a diplomatic relationship. 

In any case, with Taliban insurgents on the march, the so-called "ungoverned space" in which extremism thrives will increase. 

Security agencies say this is of great concern to them given that Afghanistan, along with Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, have been training grounds for Islamist radicals from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. 

Complicating matters is that the US and its allies are still seeking to suppress Al Qaeda and Islamic State in the region.

It is understood the final decision to withdraw Australian's civilian, military and intelligence Afghanistan contingent was made by Federal Cabinet's National Security Committee on or about May 12.

At the time, Senator Payne was in Washington DC, just days after visiting Kabul where she had met President Ashraf Ghani and "affirmed Australia's support for the Afghanistan government and people during this time of change for the country".

"With the departure of the Australian Defence Force, the Australia-Afghanistan relationship is beginning a new chapter of our diplomatic relationship, established in 1969," Senator Payne said in a statement on May 10.

"We will continue our close friendship, and support our shared aspiration of peace, stability and prosperity.

"We will continue our development assistance program to work to preserve the significant gains made by the Afghan people, in particular advancing the rights of women and girls."

Story By | Andrew Probyn


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