By NNN-Bernama,
Melbourne : Australia will consider any reasonable US request for extra troops for Afghanistan , subject to four preconditions, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says.
Fitzgibbon said he expected to gain a clearer idea of whether those conditions were being met after attending the meeting of NATO defence ministers in Krakow, Poland next week, the Australian Associated Press reports.
The Krakow meeting will serve as a lead-up to a NATO summit in Strasbourg, France on April 3 and 4, to be attended by Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, US President Barak Obama and other world leaders.
With 1100 troops in Afghanistan , Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor but the Government has consistently said it won’t send extra troops until European nations are pulling their weight.
Fitzgibbon said he sensed a change in Europe’s mood following the election of President Obama, with a willingness to make a greater contribution in Afghanistan .
With the US set to commit another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan , it’s long been tipped the US will seek extra support from Australia , the AAP report says.
Fitzgibbon said neither the Obama or the former Bush Administration had given any indication they wanted Australia to do more. “But I don’t discount the possibility,” he said.
“We will consider any reasonable request from our closest ally. But our response would be based on what I call my four point test.”
The four pre-conditions are that NATO countries do more, that Australia is convinced there’s a new strategic plan for better success in Afghanistan , that there’s a clear strategic justification for any extra Australian troop commitment and that Australian troops face an acceptable level of risk.
A key issue will be the report by US General David Petraeus to the Obama Administration on the way forward in Afghanistan .
That could be available by the time of the meeting next week.
Fitzgibbon said Australian troops were making good progress in Oruzgan province but that unfortunately wasn’t the case in other parts of the country.
“Ultimate success will only come when we are making similar progress in every province,” he said.