Anthony Albanese has honoured Australian troops who served in Afghanistan, using the 25th anniversary of the country’s involvement in the conflict to describe their heroism as a fight for “who we are as a people”.
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we → honour → people
The prime minister joined hundreds of veterans, family members and dignitaries at a commemoration of the start of the campaign in Canberra on Sunday, with nation’s most decorated living soldier and accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith among the crowd at the Australian War Memorial.
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minister → join → Memorial
“In New York, fires were still burning at Ground Zero from the September 11 attacks a month earlier.
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fires → burn → attacks
The world felt upended,” Albanese said of the start of Operation Slipper.
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Albanese → feel → Slipper
“Though it would change so devastatingly a year later in Bali, it was not yet directly our fight.
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it → change → Bali
“Yet Australia did what is so resolutely in our nature.
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what → do → nature
We went to support our friend and ally.
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We → go → friend
“We went because we saw what was at stake, and we went on the principle that September 11 was an attack on a way of life that belonged just as much to us.”
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that → go → us
He said the more than 35,000 defence force members deployed over the following two decades did so because the very freedoms “that are at the heart of who we are as a people and a nation were under threat”.
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we → say → threat
Roberts-Smith, who denies the allegations against him, attended the event alongside family members and supporters, as well as former prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.
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who → deny → members
Roberts-Smith was awarded Australia’s highest military honour – the Victoria Cross – for his service in Afghanistan, but now faces accusations he murdered five unarmed detainees during his deployment.
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he → award → deployment
The former Special Air Service regiment corporal sat alongside his partner, Sarah Matulin, after a judge agreed to vary his bail conditions to allow him to visit Canberra.
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him → sit → Canberra
Deployments to the Middle East continued until withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
US troops left a few months later after signing an agreement with the Taliban, who swiftly returned to power and reintroduced authoritarian control, including strict suppression of women and girls’ rights.
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who → continue → rights
Some 47 Australian personnel died as a result of their service and 263 were wounded, while thousands more allied soldiers were killed.
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soldiers → die → service
Tens of thousands of civilians were also estimated to have been killed during the war.
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thousands → estimate → war
Despite the controversy over Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan and its legacy, the troops who served on the ground remain intensely proud of what they achieved.
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they → serve → what
Soldier Mathew Bell was deployed in 2012, aged 24, with his infantry battalion to a forward operating base in Afghanistan’s “badlands” west of Tarinkot.
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Bell → deploy → Tarinkot
More than a decade after he returned to Australia, Bell remembers his unit’s work with a sense of honour and accomplishment.
“We changed that little part of Afghanistan, that little part of the world for good,” the former lance corporal, now 38, said.
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corporal → return → world
Bell said girls were able to attend school, medical services were rolled out to villages and “there was freedom”.
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services → say → villages
“Not the oppression we’re seeing now under the Taliban government,” the father of two said.
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father → see → two
“Our role was essentially to go out on either vehicle-mounted patrols or foot patrols, out among the local population through the desert, through the green zone, keeping the Taliban at bay.
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role → go → bay
Once you stepped over that line in the sand, like, that was Taliban territory.”
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that → step → sand
One of Bell’s close mates was badly wounded in a roadside bomb explosion and on more than one occasion, his section was pinned down by sniper fire.
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section → wound → fire
Services were also held at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park, at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and other sites around the country.
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Services → hold → country
Australians who served in the Afghanistan War were deployed in various roles and missions contributing to reconstruction efforts, democratic governance, training and humanitarian aid.
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who → serve → efforts
Operation Slipper was followed between 2015 and 2021 by Operation Highroad and the Kabul airlift in August 2021.
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Slipper → follow → August
The Aporia
