We lost another 3 soldiers

[mudmouse]

Just heard via the ABC that three Australian soldiers have been killed at muster by someone wearing an Afghani uniform.

:(

Vale young men.

Matt.

[roverfan]

It's sad, but until they leave Afghanistan they will continue to perish.

[Chucaro]

This is terrible!! 3 are death and apperas than another 7 in a bad shape.
They were killed today in southern Afghanistan when an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform apparently turned his weapon on Afghan and coalition forces
Out thoughts are going to their families and fellow soldiers.

[Garry]

I hear you mate

My wife's brother is there now with the Scottish Regiment

I wish them all a safe return

G

[lambrover]

There will be some very angry Aust soldiers at the moment. A mate of mine whos been over said that one day you see men plain dressed and the next their in afghan army uniform, they have a foot in both camps.

Very sad news today though.

[digger]

KABUL, Oct 29, 2011 (AFP) - - An Afghan soldier opened fire on foreign forces on Saturday, killing three Australian army trainers in the volatile south of Afghanistan, NATO and a local commander said.

The alliance force said two service members were killed and one other later died of his injuries after "an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform apparently turned his weapon on Afghan and coalition forces."

It said the shooter was also killed in the incident but gave no further details.

General Abdul Hameed, commander of 205 Atal corps in the south said an Afghan soldier with three years' experience had carried out the shooting in the volatile southern province of Uruzgan.

He said six other Australian troops and one Afghan officer had been wounded.

"At around 8:30 this morning an ANA soldier named Darwish who had been serving as an ANA soldier for the past three years opened fire on a group of Australian military officers, killing three of them and injuring six others as well as one ANA officer," said Hameed.

"The attacker was also gunned down by ISAF soldiers."

Fears of infiltration within the Afghan army ranks have risen as Western backers fund and train a huge expansion of the fledgling national force ahead of the withdrawal of all foreign combat forces scheduled for 2014.

The announcement came as a suicide car bomber in the capital Kabul struck a US-run NATO bus travelling through the southwest of the city, killing at least 17 people, including 13 US soldiers.



Reality in Afghanistan

My pain feels cold and selfish
My anguish very small
My reality insignificant
Compared to ones that fall
Young men with broken bodies
Their Comrades lie in sacks
Devastated parents
Their sons will not come back.

My pain will ease and lessen
My anguish slip away
Reality in Afghanistan
Three brave men died today

Killed by men they helped and trained
within their base the bullets rained
the treachery the deepest cut
a gaping wound, a massive rut

Now I look about my mates
every one rethinks his fate
Young men with shell shocked faces
Growing old before their time
Are living breathing testament
To this shallow pain of mine.

adapted from poem by Phil Williams
Bastion 1 July 2009

[Ralph1Malph]

A Mate can do no Wrong

We learnt the creed at Hungerford,
We learnt the creed at Bourke;
We learnt it in the good times
And learnt it out of work.
We learnt it by the harbour-side
And on the billabong:
'No matter what a mate may do,
A mate can do no wrong!'
He’s like a king in this respect
(No matter what they do),
And, king-like, shares in storm and shine
The Throne of Life with you.
We learnt it when we were in gaol
And put it in a song:
' No matter what a mate may do,
A mate can do no wrong!'
They’ll say he said a bitter word
When he’s away or dead.
We’re loyal to his memory,
No matter what he said.
And we should never hesitate,
But strike out good and strong,
And jolt the slanderer on the jaw –
A mate can do no wrong !
Henry Lawson

[johno]

What a terrible shame, our finest young men murdered by someone they were trying to help. leave them to it. I never thought I would say it , bring our soldiers home.

[Chucaro]

The intetion of the thread is to pay respect for the soldiers that lost their life and not to exchange opinions about our involment in the conflict.
Cheers

[p38arover]

Read Chucaro's post above!

The arguments have been moved to The Soapbox. Any further arguments here will be deleted.

[digger]

more information about the incident and the names of those lost..

(so close to remembrance day -will make it so much more important to observe the minute..)

Tuesday, November 01, 2011 » 07:18am

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has warned against attributing motives in the case of an Afghan soldier who turn his gun on Australian soldiers.

Previous insider attacks on coalition forces have been claimed by the Taliban, but Defence Minister Stephen Smith called for caution in attributing motive in this case.

'We may never know the motivation. With the previous instance, we never knew what the motivation was,' he told Sky News.

'Whether it's an infiltrator or whether it's a rogue ANA soldier perhaps we will never know, but time will tell.

This was the second such attack on Australian soldiers.

In May, an Afghan soldier shot dead Lance Corporal Andrew Jones at a remote patrol base and was subsequently hunted down and killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that incident, but the government believes it was more likely the act of a rogue soldier than an insurgent infiltrator.

In the latest attack, the Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier opened fire on the group of Australians on Saturday at the forward operating base in northern Kandahar province, killing Corporal Ashley Birt, 22, Lance Corporal Luke Gavin, 27, and Captain Bryce Duffy, 26.

All were members of the Mentoring Task Force whose job is to train Afghan soldiers. Also killed was an Afghan interpreter. Seven Australian soldiers were wounded. The culprit was shot dead.

The deaths of the three soldiers in one incident - equal to Australia's worst single-day death toll in Afghanistan - take the Australian toll to 32 in a decade.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told parliament on Monday the nation's politicians shared a small part of the grief of the families of three soldiers.

She said it was critical that the nation show restraint and reserve judgment until an investigation had been completed.

'What we do know is this - this was an attack on Australia and on Afghanistan. One Afghan soldier is dead alongside three Australians. Australia's parliament does not forget his sacrifice today nor his family's grief,' Ms Gillard said.

'We must not allow this attack, an attack like this one, to strike at the core of our training and mentoring mission in Afghanistan.

'The government will not judge the progress of our mission by any one incident or any one day, no matter how bitter.'

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the element of betrayal made these deaths particularly tragic.

'Australians are entitled to be dismayed that our allies apparently can't entirely be relied upon, but this is a reflection more on the malice of the enemy than on the merits of our cause,' he said.

'It is freedom's fight that our soldiers and our allies are embarked upon. They and their mission continue to have the coalition's full support.'

The Greens again called for Australian troops to be brought home from Afghanistan without delay.

Greens leader Bob Brown called on the parliament to set a deadline for withdrawal of the troops.

'It is a horrendous loss under extraordinary circumstances which can't be described as anything other than murder in Afghanistan,' he told parliament.

Senator Brown said 2014 had been set as a withdrawal date, but the government had signalled that Australia would be quite heavily involved beyond 2014.

He said this was Australia's longest war and the one with the least parliamentary debate.

'It is incumbent upon us as parliamentarians to track the safety and security and progress of our service personnel all the way and I think this parliament has failed to do that,' he said.


Rest now boys, your work is done.

[101RRS]

The Afghan soldier who killed the Australians was a Lieutenant and according to his father was not Taliban. If he was Taliban I guess I could understand this tactic, afterall it is a war but if non Taliban Afghans are now doing this it indicates that the local population are now seeing us as occupiers. At this stage of the "war" I believe it is time to pull combat troops but leave the mentoring/training troops to further develop the Afghan military to a position where they can secure the country - wishful thinking maybe, but right or wrong, no matter how much good will there is, foreign forces are considered to be occupiers and as time goes by becomes counter productive.

Garry