AUSTRALIA SEEKS QUIK AFGHAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL

Australia on Wednesday said it wanted to bring its military involvement in Afghanistan to a quick end, despite US and NATO calls for more troops to shore up the campaign against a resurgent Taliban.

• Defence Minister John Faulkner said Australia was studying how to complete the mission in the "shortest time-frame possible". Australia has about 1,550 troops in Afghanistan with no date set for their withdrawal.
• "I've certainly asked the Australian Defence Force for any recommendations they have about ensuring we do complete that important role and responsibility both effectively, but in the shortest time-frame possible," he told ABC radio.
• Faulkner admitted Australia's move would affect the push by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for an Iraq-style troop "surge" against the increasingly powerful Taliban militia.
• "I've been discussing these issues with the chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, and obviously it's a critically important matter for me," he said.
• "I'm not going to talk specifically about the approaches we'll take but I do acknowledge that there will be impacts on the approach that NATO and ISAF partners will be taking as a result of General McChrystal's 60-day assessment."
• McChrystal warned last month that the war could be lost within a year without extra resources to fight the Islamists, who were driven from power by the 2001 US-led invasion.

Source: AFP