In 2007, Australian government officials repeatedly told the US embassy in Canberra of its plans to increase Australian troop commitments in Afghanistan. But they asked the US government to keep quiet about it, as the plans had not yet been made public.
Other Australian officials briefed the embassy on Australia’s likely troop deployments even before the federal cabinet had approved it. The revelations are contained in three embassy cables — classified secret — that were released by WikiLeaks on August 29.
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A secret cable from the US embassy dated April 5, 2007, said Stephanie Foster, the then first assistant secretary for international policy in the Australian department of defence, told the embassy deputy chief Daniel A Clune that “the Government of Australia had approved a planned deployment of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan that would nearly double ADF strength, from the current level of about 500 to almost 1,000”.
The cable said: “The government of Australia does not plan to publicly announce the new deployment until April 10, and Foster asked that we not publicly mention the decision.”
After leaving the defence department, Foster went on to become a deputy secretary of the federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport in November 2008.
Earlier that year, the US embassy was told of “preliminary plans to deploy an additional 250 Australian Defence Force personnel, including Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment forces, to Oruzgan province for an extended period”.
Even though the cabinet was not due to decide on the issue for a month, the US government knew on February 22, 2007, that “the National Security Committee of Cabinet of Australia” — a body of seven cabinet ministers, which included then-PM John Howard — had “approved in principle planning for deployment of approximately 250 Australian Defence Force personnel to Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan to supplement the 550-strong force currently working under a Dutch-led Provincial Reconstruction Team”.
Senior officials from the Australian Department of Defence told the US embassy the troop increase was partly because of their “concern that the Dutch military leadership” in Oruzgan province was “not responding aggressively enough to the expected offensive”.
The February 22, 2007 cable also reported that then-opposition leader Kevin Rudd called the embassy to complain that the Howard government had not told him of the troop deployment plans.
Nevertheless, the cable said Rudd “continued to express Labor's continued support in general for military involvement by Australia in Afghanistan, in stark contrast to Labor's position on Iraq”.
Another secret cable, dated March 2, 2007, reveals that ADF Commander Jonathan Sadlier and the defence department’s Afghanistan Section Assistant Director Malcolm Brailey briefed the US embassy of Australia’s planned troop increase in Afghanistan.
Sadlier said the Australian government wanted its soldiers in Oruzgan province placed under US command, rather than Dutch command. This “would, among other benefits, allow them to take a more aggressive posture against the Taliban during the spring offensive”, the cable said.
The cable said Sadlier “reiterated [an Australian government] frustration” about the Dutch command in Afghanistan, which was “focused on reconstruction and were not being pro-active militarily”.
Sadlier also told the US embassy “off the record” that some Dutch military figures had sympathised with Australia’s desire “to operate under a command and control structure that is less restrictive”.