Vow to keep pressure on Taliban in spite of losses

Grim predictions of a bloody fighting season in Afghanistan have been confirmed by the death of another Australian soldier during a special forces patrol.

The death of combat engineer Sapper Rowan Robinson, 23 - the fourth in two weeks and Australia's 27th slain Digger - came as the bodies of two soldiers killed last week were flown home.

It also followed the funeral last week of commando Sergeant Brett Wood, the victim of an improvised bomb.

The news broke as Defence Minister Stephen Smith flew to Brussels to discuss strategy and the progress of the war at a meeting of Nato and coalition defence ministers.

"The meeting comes at a difficult time in Australia's commitment in Afghanistan with the recent tragic deaths of Sergeant Wood, Lance Corporal Andrew Jones and Lieutenant Marcus Case," Smith said in a statement released before the news of the latest casualty.

"There will be setbacks and adverse incidents as we have seen recently.

"The Taleban will strike back and try to recover ground, and they will also, as we know, try to use high-profile incidents as propaganda events to undermine confidence.

"There is a long way to go, but Australia believes we have the military and political strategy in place, the resources and the people on the ground to deliver it and prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a breeding ground for international terrorists."

Despite the unpopularity of Australia's commitment, the growing toll has not shaken bipartisan resolve to remain until at least 2014.

Smith said the commitment remained vital to Australia's national security interests, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, reaffirming the Government's determination, warned: "I can't promise there won't be more hard days ahead."

Defence chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said that despite the impact of the recent deaths Australian soldiers remained "incredibly resilient and determined" and were convinced they were making a difference.

"We are now in areas we've never been before. We are prevailing," he said. "The Taleban are finding it incredibly hard to mount operations in Uruzgan province ... why would you pull out when we are making the best progress we've ever made?"

Robinson had been part of a special forces patrol in the north of Helmand province, during which a huge arms cache had been found and destroyed.

The cache includes a large number of anti-personnel mines, assault rifles, material for making improvised bombs - which have accounted for almost half of Australia's Afghan death toll - rocket-propelled grenade launchers and communications equipment.

But the patrol came under insurgent fire from multiple directions.

Robinson was wounded during the 80-minute firefight and was evacuated by helicopter, but could not be saved.

Houston said the 23-year-old engineer, from New South Wales, was a "very fine young man" who had been on his second tour in Afghanistan.

"Though nothing will ease their sense of loss, I want the soldier's family to know their loved one was undertaking vital work in Afghanistan yesterday," he said.

"The discovery and destruction of [the weapons cache] will impede the insurgency in northern Helmand and Uruzgan."