Yes we and blindly blundering America have made many foreign policy mistakes, which simply cannot be overlooked or in any way justified!
None more glaring than the "POLICE" action in Vietnam. An action which wasted hundreds of thousands of young lives; and for what outcome?
A clearly ill advised/poorly led and badly beaten once mighty America, fleeing with its tail between its legs and deserting former allies? And indeed, great material for anti- American anti Australian Propagandists?
Having said that let me conclude by saying, I agree broadly with the evocations of the Author and the sentiments expressed in the article. Rhrosty.

Chris Lewis asks “Can critics be serious when they suggest that the war in Afghanistan will only be over when international troops have gone” so that “Afghanistan can proceed down the path to self-determination free of foreign interference”.

The war will not end for the foreseeable future, no matter who is in control of Afghanistan.
The country is a loose collection of different tribes and as such will never be able to peacably co -exist. It will only be possible to have some sort of uneasy peace when it is divided up into tribal areas and each one is strong enough to defend against any one of the others.
It is obvious that the US is aiming for total world empire (with over five hundred military bases and counting) and is well on the way to achieving this. The aim of the US is to control the remaining oil left in the world.
Australia is along for the ride so that the big brother US will provide security.
This is a very shortsighted outlook by Australia because it is by no means certain that the US will retain its empire for too much longer.
It’s once mighty financial system is mortgaged to the hilt to pay for it’s military.
Peak oil is here now and as it affects the US economy (as well as the rest of the world) so the military will be unable to continue as the world leaders. Who will fill the vacuum is not certain but is most likely to be China.
Woman is not going to be treated any differently in this area. They have always had a difficult life there as they have in most of the rest of the Sub continent.
Woman in Pakistan have just as bad a life in some areas.
Australia should distance itself from the US and keep itself non aligned otherwise we could find that we have backed the wrong side.

"Australia should distance itself from the US and keep itself non aligned otherwise we could find that we have backed the wrong side".

Well if that is the case, then we are all doomed.

When a nation becomes a superpower it will inevitably abuse that power. Perhaps we would be better off if we could substitute a more equitable arrangement for the nation state system.

Meanwhile we are stuck with the nation state system. During the twentieth centuries several entities challenged the US. If the US had not beaten back those challenges we, if we survived, would be living in a world dominated by Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia or Imperial Japan.

I can't imagine the domination of any of those entities as anything but far worse than US domination. US domination is evil, but it is the least of the possible evils.

Yes Chris Lewis, we are all doomed, eventually, but I still do not want to be in the 51st US State.
It is interesting to consider what the world would be like now if Bush had not won (or cheated) against Gore?
There would have been no “war against terror”, no invasions of sovereign countries into which Australians were dragged.
The Neocon industrial war complex would not have looted billions from the poor.
I think it would have been a much better world.

Since WWII the US has wrought havoc in much of the world and has engineered many coups, supported numerous dictators and invaded scores of countries. The problem is it is getting worse almost as we speak.

We are seeing more military bases, more restrictive laws at home, more political and judicial corruption, less transparency and more lack of regard to the rights of sovereign nations - many democratic - to run their affairs as they see fit.

America as a great power is on its way out having badly damaged its own economy and many, many others. Australia would do well to adopt a much more neutral stance in its dealing with the teetering empire if for no other reason than that if push comes to shove China could damage us far more than we could them even with the help of the US. The new base in the NT must surely be seen by China as a provocation as it surely is.