KEY POINTS:
Faced with its fourth soldier killed in Afghanistan and a new Coalition strategy that has yet to prove itself in an increasingly bloody war, Australia has warned that it offers no blank cheque for continued commitment against the Taleban.
As Nato officials met in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss future plans, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai recovered from an assassination attempt in Kabul, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also disclosed that Australian diplomacy had been struggling to keep the Netherlands and Canada engaged in the southern part of the country.
"That has been the subject of quite intensive negotiations between Governments and some discussions between myself and my Dutch and Canadian counterparts," Rudd said.
Australia's 1000-strong deployment of special forces, a reconstruction task force and support troops are based with the Dutch in the southern province of Oruzgan, where Commando Lance Corporal Jason Marks was killed in an ambush by Taleban forces early yesterday morning.
Marks, 27, was part of a company-sized force planning an attack on enemy positions when it was caught in the open by a significant number of Taleban operating with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in a number of groups. "As [commandos] were doing their preparations they were engaged by the Taleban and there was a heavy exchange of fire," Defence Force Chief Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston said.
American F16 fighters and Apache attack helicopters joined the battle, which also seriously injured four other commandos. The wounded and Marks' body were airlifted by helicopter to Tarin Kowt, about 25km away.
Houston said details of the injuries were not yet known, but they were not believed to be life-threatening. This brings to 31 the number of Australians injured or wounded in Afghanistan, a toll both Houston and Rudd warned was likely to rise.
Houston said Australian special forces were already routinely engaged in regular firefights with Taleban troops in tactics designed to disrupt enemy operations by taking the fight to them. "This is something that happens every time they go out," he said.
"They give a really good account of themselves and the Taleban has generally come off second-best."
But Houston said Afghanistan was facing its "fighting season" as winter snow melted, and increased activity could be expected in the coming months. Rudd bluntly said that Australia faced more trauma, warning that Marks' death and the wounding of four of his comrades was unlikely to be the last. "The security situation in Afghanistan remains grim. The toll will become worse. I think, let's accept that reality and prepare ourselves for it.
"But remember, why are we there? We are there because a failed state was giving open succour and support to a global terrorist organisation, al Qaeda, which then attacked our ally, the United States, on September 11, 2001, and in the process murdered 3000 people."
But Australia has argued for greater Nato commitment, and will now wait to see the results of a new strategy more closely linking civilian and military operations.
"We have a new way forward [but] having said that, it will still be very difficult," Rudd said. "And it will still be, in my judgment, very bloody."
Rudd said that Australia had no plans to increase its commitment to Afghanistan, and that its future deployment could depend on the success of the new strategy.
"I would not have Australian troops committed there had I not believed there was a strategy which could ultimately prevail. Nonetheless, this is not a blank cheque and it will be subject to rolling annual review."
Rudd paid tribute to Marks, a father of two young children who had been a commando since 2003 and who had only been in Afghanistan for several weeks.
"Lance Corporal Marks was a highly trained and professional soldier [who was] an inspiration to others. This is a sad day for the nation. It is a sad day for the Australian Defence Force. It is a tragic day for [his] family. My deepest sympathies and those of my family, and those of the nation go to [his] family and friends and his colleagues."
Marks' wife Cassandra said the family were devastated by his death. "Jason was a devoted father to our two beautiful children and a loving husband to me.
"All Jason ever wanted to do was to join the Army ... Becoming a commando was a dream of Jason's. He was proud of who he was and proud of what he did. Jason always strived to be the best he could be. He loved the Army, he loved his mates and he loved his family."
In a separate development yesterday, Rudd announced that the 200 extra troops sent to Timor Leste after February's attempted assassination of President Jose Ramos-Horta were being withdrawn.
IN HARM'S WAY
* Yesterday: Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 27, from 4RAR commando unit in Sydney, killed in battle with Taleban fighters in Oruzgan province. Four other commandos wounded
* 2007 November 23: Private Luke Worsley from 4RAR commando unit in Sydney killed in battle with Taleban fighters in Oruzgan province
* October 25: SAS Sergeant Matthew Locke killed by Taleban fighters in Oruzgan province
* October 8: Trooper David Pearce killed and another soldier seriously injured in roadside bomb attack in Oruzgan province
* September: Three Australians wounded during intense firefight with 50 Taleban forces near Tarin Kowt
* September 15: Troops escape injury when roadside bomb explodes alongside Australian vehicle convoy
* Early August: Two Australian soldiers injured in Taleban firefight
* July: Australian soldiers kill a civilian and injure two young children after vehicle fails to stop at a checkpoint
* June 15: Australian survives car bomb attack on a convoy that kills a Dutch soldier and six civilians at Tarin Kowt
* May 3: One Australian injured in Taleban suicide bomb attack aimed specifically at Australian forces at a vehicle checkpoint
- AAP
