By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
CANBERRA, Australia – Acknowledging
Australia’s strong commitment to the mission in Afghanistan, the U.S. Pacific
command chief said the lessons learned through a decade of shared operations
there lays a foundation for closer future U.S.-Australian cooperation in
addressing regional challenges.
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III,
speaking to reporters here today at the National Press Club, expressed
condolences for Australia’s losses in Afghanistan. An Australian Special Forces
soldier serving his seventh deployment there was killed July 2, bringing the
number of Australia’s combat casualties in Afghanistan to 33. In addition, two
Australian troops were wounded July 12 in a roadside bomb attack on a NATO convoy
in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province.
“It has been very difficult,” Locklear
said. “Some of the challenges we have faced in Afghanistan together have been
very difficult.”
The admiral noted the size of
Australia’s contributions to the NATO-led International Security Assistance
Force, particularly in light of the country’s population. About 1,550
Australian Defense Force troops, about one-third consisting of special
operators, are working in what Locklear called “very challenging environments,”
predominantly in the south.
Their focus is on training and mentoring
the Afghan National Army’s 4th Brigade and Afghan National Police and improving
the Afghan government’s capacity to deliver core services and generate economic
opportunity in Uruzgan province, according to Australian defense officials.
Meanwhile, troops assigned to the
Special Operations Task Group concentrate on disrupting insurgent operations
and supply routes, they said.
Locklear lauded the Australians for
their commitment to Afghanistan. “We are all hopeful that we will have a better
security environment in that part of the region when this is all over,” he
said.
As both the United States and Australia
look forward drawing down their forces by December 2014, Locklear said they’ll
apply the enhanced interoperability gained as they refocus on the Asia-Pacific.
The question, he said, is “how do we
take those interoperabilities, [those] aspects of the U.S.-Australia alliance
and the relationship, as well as the demonstrated capability of Australian
forces to lead in a multiple of environments, and how do you translate that
into the security challenges that we face in the Asia-Pacific?”
Locklear has been meeting with senior
Australian military leaders over the past two days to explore ways to continue
to bolster the two allies’ robust military-to-military relationship.
The Australians “have demonstrated
themselves to be a very reliable partner with us in a lot of different areas,”
Locklear told American Forces Press Service during the flight here. “They have
done a lot to contribute to global security and they have been a good partner
to the United States.”
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