Interview on ABC Radio National Breakfast program

Subjects: Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Solomon Islands

FRAN KELLY: The job is done in Iraq, and it’s time for Australian troops to leave. That’s what the chief of the Australian Defence Force has told a Parliamentary Committee yesterday, although an exact exit date for the withdrawal is still to be announced. It comes as Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston warns that combat troops in Afghanistan could be facing greater dangers in that country.

To discuss all this we are joined now by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. Later today, the Foreign Minister heads to the Solomons to discuss Australia’s work with the RAMSI mission.

Minister, good morning.

STEPHEN SMITH: Good morning, Fran.

FRAN KELLY: Minister, before we get to Iraq can we just begin with the election results in Pakistan? It looks as though there will be some kind of coalition government. A win for democracy, but are you concerned about the political stability there? Are you concerned about the potential exit of President Pervez Musharraf?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, firstly we welcome the fact there has been a largely peaceful parliamentary election. We have had a strong view, which we expressed at the terrible time of Mrs Bhutto’s assassination, that the best way forward for Pakistan was the rule of law and democracy. That’s the best way to stare down extremism and terrorism in Pakistan.

It has been largely peaceable. It’s quite clear that the two main opposition parties here, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto’s party and the PML-N lead by former Prime Minister Sharif. They are both the big victors over night. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) now recorded getting over 110 seats and Sharif’s party over 80, so they’re the big winners.

The way forward now is for all the political players including the President, to now work out a way forward. There clearly won’t be one political party who’s able to form a government and this was a parliamentary election, not a presidential election.

So, whatever coalition emerges has to also work with President Musharraf. One of the things that we have welcomed is the fact that he has indicated that he is prepared to work cooperatively with whatever government emerges out of the parliament. We think that is the best way forward, because there is a substantial problem of terrorism and extremism in Pakistan particularly in the north which has very really deleterious adverse implications for our forces in Afghanistan itself.

FRAN KELLY: Ok, well, let’s get to our forces in Afghanistan, but Iraq first. Yesterday, Air Chief Marshal Houston made it clear that the job was done there for our forces, it’s time to go. Are we any closer to an exact exit date? We know beyond mid year is what you have told Condoleezza Rice, but an exact date now?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, just in terms of the job been done, all the assessments are that the military situation in Iraq has substantially improved over the last recent period of twelve months or so. Of course Labor always had the strong view that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place and we came to government with a very strong election commitment that we would withdraw our troops from Iraq by the middle of this year and we will meet that election commitment.

At the completion of the current rotation the over watched battle group as it’s described will be withdrawn. Now this doesn’t occur on one day, it’s a big logistical operation to put troops in and it’s big logistical operation to get them out. When I went to the United States I made it clear to the United States administration that we would be doing that, but we have been in close cooperation, not just with the United States administration and forces, but also with for example, the United Kingdom, because we want to minimise whatever disruption there is. But, we will meet our election commitment, those troops will be back by the middle of the year, they won’t all be back on the one day.

FRAN KELLY: As you say, that was Labor’s election commitment, but, if the CDF is saying that the job is done anyway, it looks like even with a Howard government would the advice have been bring the troops home now?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, that was never the Howard government’s position. I mean, this was one of the stark contrasts between our approach, Labor’s approach and the Liberal Party’s approach. The Liberal Party’s approach was that we should have troops in Iraq, they never indicated they are proposing to withdraw. They always found some reason, spurious or otherwise, as to why they should be there. Labor’s view was always crystal clear we didn’t think the commitment of forces to Iraq, was the right or the appropriate thing to do and what is now very clear, in which is why we went to the election with a very strong commitment to withdraw those troops, and what is now also very clear, is that the real problem that we now have is in Afghanistan / Pakistan - if I can use that description - because of the border crossing in the south.

FRAN KELLY: Just on that, it seems like we are now going to pull our weight even more in Afghanistan. The Defence Minister has announced now that we are establishing a seventy strong training team in Afghanistan which will be embedded with the Afghan Army later this year. And now the CDF is admitting to the Senate Estimates that this is a more dangerous deployment than the reconstruction role we have had.

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, no one should ever under appreciate just how dangerous Afghanistan is generally. Whether that, for example, applies to our diplomats who were in the Serena Hotel, which was the subject of attack recently, or whether it is our about 1,000 troops in the south.

But, we very strongly believe, and Joel Fitzgibbon has been making this point from the moment he became Defence Minister as have I, and argued this strongly when I was in the United States, that we believe there is a need for a much stronger, firmer commitment by the international community including NATO and NATO’s respective nation states, to the battle in Afghanistan.

FRAN KELLY: Exactly. So, why are we increasing the danger faced by Australian troops there at a time, or before, the international community starts pulling its weight?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, we are certainly not increasing the number of troops there, that’s the first point, whatever work we do in Afghanistan is very, very dangerous. There has been a change which Joel Fitzgibbon announced in the parliament with a Ministerial Statement that Angus Houston has spoken about in Senate Estimates, there has been a change to some of the training arrangements and some of the configurations.

But, let’s not be under any illusions, the work that is done in Afghanistan is very dangerous, but it is also in my strong view, work that is very much in our national interest and in the international communities interest. That is why we have been arguing with the NATO Conference coming up in Europe in early April this year, we need to see a very strong, long term commitment from NATO from European countries and the international community for a commitment from Afghanistan which is both a combat or military one for counter terrorism and counter extremism purposes.

But also, we need to make sure that what we are doing in Afghanistan is also helping Afghanistan to build as a nation, to give it the capacity to build infrastructure and the government’s capacity that will enable Afghanistan to manage its own affairs as nation state. That includes military and police training, so that at some point of the cycle Afghanistan can take care of those affairs itself.

The real danger here is, that the mobility of international terrorism and the danger that the terrorist activity in Afghanistan poses for Europe and poses for Asia and the rest of the world.

FRAN KELLY: Ok, now Minister, just briefly as we are almost out of time. You are off to the Solomons today, to talk about a RAMSI mission with the other Pacific Island forum members. Are we any nearer to being able to pull out of the Solomons? And is RAMSI back on track after all those tensions last year?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I don’t know if we are any nearer because what we are conscious of doing is providing an environment of peace and stability and security; to enable the Solomon Islands to get back on its feet, again, in terms of building itself as a nation.

We are very, very pleased that the relationship that the new Rudd Labor government, the new Australian Government, has with the Solomon Islands with the coming to office of Prime Minister Sikua. We are very, very pleased that that is on a much better footing than it was last year. Prime Minister Sikua had a very successful and positive trip to Australian recently where he saw our Prime Minister.

The purpose of this trip is twofold. Firstly, it is to reinforce the much better relationship that we have with the Solomon Islands, I’ll be meeting with the Prime Minister and also with my Solomon Islands counterpart, Mr Haomae: But, also the formal purpose; and I will be going with my two relevant parliamentary secretaries, Duncan Kerr and Bob McMullan, who have responsibility for the Pacific Islands and for international aid development assistance is to have a formal ministerial review of the RAMSI operation. That formal review is done with other countries, Solomon Islands Foreign Minister and the Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Sam Abal, will be there as well.

It is to essentially make sure that with the new Solomon Islands government that we have got RAMSI on track so that we, at some point in the cycle, can secure stability in the Solomon Islands and at the same time make sure the Solomon Islands can build its own capacity to governance its own affairs.

FRAN KELLY: Well, good luck with that Minister. Thank you very much for joining us.

STEPHEN SMITH: Thank you very much, Fran.

FRAN KELLY: Foreign Minister Stephen Smith joining us there, just ahead of him leaving for the Solomons.

Ends

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