Australia extends military mission in Afghanistan into 2017

“You have now been waging war against the Afghan people for many years”.

Two years ago, Obama announced that “this is the year we will conclude our combat mission in Afghanistan”, declaring that by the end of 2016 the military would have but “a normal embassy presence”. He declared in 2013 that it would be mission accomplished for British forces after the end of the troop drawdown the following year. It also contributed billions in aid.

“It is not mission creep because they are not engaged in a combat capacity”.

The participants of the summit agreed to strengthen Afghan security forces to ensure Afghanistan will not become a hotbed of terrorism. Some Pentagon officials criticized Obama’s move, saying it does nothing to address a deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. The military engagement was meant to obliterate the Taliban, but the militant group has managed to gain more footholds across the country over the past years, and local security forces still struggle to contain the group and other militants, including al-Qaeda and the Takfiri Daesh terrorists. The situation in the country has worsened in recent months, with the Taliban launching offensives in major cities. At the same time, Kabul faces challenges from other extremist groups, most notably the Islamic State, outlawed in many countries including Russian Federation.

The turmoil has only grown more acute with the fallout of Britain’s planned withdrawal from the European Union.

When President Obama issued yet another statement on Afghanistan on July 6th, and once again delayed his plans to cut the number of USA troops in Afghanistan, he took actions that had already become nearly inevitable.

Where are British troops deployed overseas?

Australia is also shelving plans to withdraw its 270 troops from Afghanistan until at least next year.

Meanwhile, Canada’s new funding will be different than what came before in that the emphasis will be on development instead of security. Under the Conservatives, the ratio was flipped.

“I don’t expect either of those to be significantly decremented by the numbers of forces we’re putting on the ground here”, Gen. Votel told reporters during a refueling stop for his military jet in Shannon, Ireland.

-U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said about 6,700 will remain part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mission.

Australian Defence Force staff will also continue to play a role in the NATO Resolute Support mission, largely training Afghan security forces, into 2017.