Former prime minister John Howard says Australia must send more troops to Afghanistan or risk losing the war. Mr Howard, who is in the US to meet with former president George W Bush, told Fox News that Australia should increase its troop commitment to avoid handing victory to the Taliban, a scenario he said would deal an "enormous blow" to American prestige.
The commander of United States troops in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has recently called for President Barack Obama to send more troops as the fight against the Taliban continues.
And this morning US defence secretary Robert Gates conceded that the Taliban had the momentum in Afghanistan because of the inability of the United States and its allies to put enough troops into the country.
Mr Howard told Fox that: "There should be additional commitments from all of the countries, including my own, that have troops there at present."
"What we've got to ask ourselves is, what is the consequence of failure in Afghanistan? And that would be an enormous blow to American prestige, it would greatly embolden the terrorist cause," he added.
Mr Howard says he believes that without a troop surge, coalition forces risk having to withdraw without defeating the Taliban.
"I think we run the risk of just drifting to a situation where there is no alternative other than to give it away, and that will be a colossal blow," he said.
Mr Obama is still mulling General McChrystal's request but Mr Howard says the general's call should be heeded.
"It does seem that every element of logic suggests that if you've got the man on the ground saying, 'Let's have more', then it's pretty hard to ignore that," he said.
Late last month Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met with US officials, but said he had not received a request for more troops.
In April the Government announced around 400 more soldiers would be sent to the war in Afghanistan, taking the total number of Australian troops in the country to around 1,550.
Source: ABC Online
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