On the ABC John Howard said in a recent interview that no Australian soldier had died in vain in Afghanistan; the current situation in that country would seem to question his statement.
Comments?

People should stop listening to John Howard and all other ex-politicians. The fact that the Taliban is back, stronger and better armed than ever - thanks to the Yanks - definitely means that all allied soldiers, particularly our own, were KILLED in vain (let's drop this 'died' rot); and Howard, who never was a soldier, is a silly old man who should have shut his gob after he lost not only government, but his own seat. He, and leaders of all governments who sent troops to Afghanistan to be killed for no good reason - as far as their own countries were concerned - should hang their heads in shame, and apologise daily to the families of the needlessly dead.

Is Mise,

Did our soldiers die for nothing?

We shall have to wait and see what happens next in
Afghanistan for the answer to that question.
Is the Taliban capable of change? Or will it now
continue stronger than before being closely linked
to Al Qaeda and continue to function as a terrorist
group. We all feel uneasy about that question and don't
quite see a happy ending.

We've invested 20 years in Afghanistan, so many deaths,
with the hope of giving better futures and hopes to
people which we've now seen wiped away in a matter of
weeks. For the families of the dead - this must be so
hard to come to terms with today.

All we can do now is try to provide safe homes to refugees.
And Australia and other countries as taking in many
Afghan refugees. However nobody knows what's going to
happen next.

We can only hope that it wasn't all for nothing. But we'll
have to wait and see for an answer to that - it's the best
we can now do.

Foxy,
Our soldiers did not die for nothing, they died to satisfy the ambition of John Howard and nothing will change with the Taliban, they follow Islam and will continue to do so.
I feel the most sorrow for the thousands of women and girls who saw a better life via education and who will now be propelled back into the Dark Ages.

Hi Issy,

When it comes to Australians losing their lives in pathetic wars like Afghanistan, anything John Howard says is not worth a pint of piss. This is the same John Howard who supported the Vietnam War and over 500 Australians dead, while Howard himself pissed off to London to avoid any military service. Like Howards hero 'Pig Iron' Bob Menzies the founder of the Liberal Party, who dogged military service in WWI, but at the same time supported the war that left over 60,000 Australians dead. Got to give it to the Liberals, they will push Australians into war, but never fight one themselves.

The Americans have now officially admitted their strategy was only to protect their homeland from terrorist attacks.
The installation of a corrupt Afghan regime was really about keeping the potential interests of neighbouring countries at bay.

The initial rise of the Taliban was aided by what the Afghans called "The Great Betrayal" - a time when American promised they would help rebuild Afghanistan after they drove out the Russians but they reneged on that deal.
Now there will be a whole new generation of embittered Afghans who feel deserted and abandoned.

Every time the West meddles in Middle Eastern affairs they make things progressively worse, such as the overthrow of stable progressive democratic governments and sponsorship of repressive dictatorships which led to the rise of militant Islam.

There is an entry in the British version of Hansard which says that "It is and has has always been the aim of this government to keep the Middle East destabilised". In that sense it's been a great victory.