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Australia may opt for early Afghan pullout

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:21 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

(Adds govt comment)

CANBERRA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Australia could start pulling its troops out of Afghanistan well ahead of a planned withdrawal in 2014, the government said on Monday, but rejected reports that most could be gone by next year in response to a fast mounting death toll.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said while Australia could be in a position to withdraw and hand over to Afghan forces in restive southern Uruzgan province by next year, any decision would be based on security improvements on the ground.

"We're neither seeking to rush, nor seeking to slow it down. We may well get there earlier than 2014, but that outcome is conditions-based," Smith said.

Australia, a close U.S. ally, has around 1,550 troops in Afghanistan, including elite special forces, based mainly at Tirin Kot in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan province.

But with 32 soldiers killed since the country signed up as an original member of the U.S.-led coalition that invaded the country a decade ago to oust the Taliban, the government is under mounting pressure to withdraw troops.

Defence sources told The Age Newspaper that a brigadier stationed in the Middle East was working on plans for the main Australian troop contingent to be withdrawn by 2013, instead of the 2014 deadline the government has flagged until recently.

A rush to exit Afghanistan appears to be developing among countries with troops taking part in the international ISAF coalition battling insurgents in Afghanistan.

British reports last week suggest Prime Minister David Cameron was considering withdrawing as many as 4,500 troops up to a year earlier than originally planned from the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand.

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard in October described the shooting of three Australian soldiers by an Afghan soldier as "a bitter day" for the nation, but said Australian troops were making progress against insurgents in the country.

In a statement to parliament last month, Gillard said Australia's national interest in combating militancy in Afghanistan had not changed in the past year. (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Michael Perry)