...Apart from the obvious, which this article points out; that being the question mark raised over the legitimacy of the war, the answer is simply our obligation to the ANZUS treaty. The article failed to mention the extension of the original ANZUS agreement, which was intended to be an alliance applicable to the Pacific zone.

...The article more correctly points out the grief of families at the loss of loved ones in battle. This outcome is more an unavoidable fact of life, and will always remain one while most nations remain committed to raising armies.

...If the facts are obvious, that casualties are inevitable in battle, I would think a more relevant question arises; why is it necessary to present our young “women” to the perils of front line combat. This is the mute point begging new debate, and missing in this article.

If a foreign army invaded Australia and accidentally or deliberately killed some of our family or friends, I wonder how many of us could be relied upon not to take any opportunity for revenge.
I think the last "successful" invasion of Afghanistan was by Alexander the Great, his army soon got fed up and announced that they were going home, and did so.
Britain invaded Afghanistan numerous times over a hundred year period. They always came back with fewer soldiers and no success.
Why would the present occupation of Afghanistan by white,"Christian" soldiers succeed?
When the USA can no longer pay its soldiers they will go home.

Julia Gillard,we must stay the distance, what for,to have more young lives lost in a never winning war.
Julia Gillard is mourning the loss of her 83 year old father, but this is nothing compared to young lives lost, I always feel when the somber face & voice comes on that it is false, it is time politicians joined the front rank in any war, I am positive it would soon stop, but while the insignificant are being killed at their whim,as with all wars past & present I really cannot feel compassion for her at this sad time. Stop the war now Julia and stop bowing to what the USA may want of us.

AT&T

This is a good article making some important points. We also, on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11 need to reconsider the original justification for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. It was the alleged involvement of Osama bin Laden and the refusal of the then Taliban government to hand him over for American "justice".

Like just about the entire official 9/11 conspiracy theory that was a lie. Until our media (including OLO) have the courage to address that issue Australia will continue to be dragged into wars of America's choosing.

There was no legal or military reason for Australia to join in. John Howard's invocation of ANZUS had no authentic basis, as that treaty is subject to Art. 51 of the UN Charter, even if one accepts the US line that they were "attacked" on 9/11.

We now know that Bush authorised the decision to attack in July 2001, and did so for reasons relating to US geopolitics, including the Caspian pipeline, and the encirclement of China and Russia through bases in Afghanistan and the former Soviet Caspian republics.

The opinion polls show that the majority of Australians want our withdrawal from Afghanistan. The politicians ignore that message, possibly because they fear the wrath of the Americans more than they fear their own electorates. That needs to change. Re-instating accountability for the crime of aggression would be a good place to start.

I think we'll see scenes reminiscent of Saigon in 1975 or Mogadishu in the 1990's anyway, the lone helicopter gunship covering the last convoy out through the Khyber pass will be the defining image of this war.

What's even worse is that a report in the Guardian shows that over 30% of Afghan kids are starving in Helmand and Oruzgan where the British and Australian soldiers live in relative luxury and the wonder why the families of starving Afghan children kill them.

And we give $7 per person per year in aid and spend $500 million a year jailing AFghan refugees and now we are going to flog them off to Nauru and Manus island as punishment for not accessing a system that does not exist.

We are a nation run by fools with 13 good men and women in dissent.