REPORTER: John Martinkus
This is the only way to get to where the Australians are based in Southern Afghanistan. Last year I travelled here by road, but the 4-hour drive from Kandahar is now too dangerous to risk. The NATO base in Tarin Kot is effectively cut off from the outside world. 2,000 Dutch troops share this huge, fortified base with about 370 Australians. All equipment and personnel are moved in by air. It's a massive operation replicated throughout southern Afghanistan as NATO forces struggle to maintain a presence.
MARK LEITY, NATO SPOKESMAN: We're actually set well for 2007. We've had some pretty tough times and I don't think anyone should try to avoid that. I think when we arrived here the situation in the south, which is where most of the trouble has been, was probably worse than we realised and as a result there was a lot more fighting that we had to do. There was less opportunity for reconstruction and development.
Australia's contribution is set to double later this year, and I've obtained permission to spend a couple of days watching the ADF at work.
Last year Australian special forces and commandos in Tarin Kot were replaced by engineers and infantry. Their new strategy emphasises reconstruction but it's backed up with overwhelming firepower. Today, on our way to a local village, we have about 20 armoured vehicles and a predator drone an unmanned reconnaissance plane - overhead. On the outskirts of the village we stop and wait while soldiers cautiously spread out and advance on foot.
MAJOR HUGH MEGGITT: What we're doing is we are just setting up the security posture down in the village where we are about to commence work on. And once that security is established we'll then move those engineers' stores down and commence work. It's a less aggressive posture for the locals and it's certainly much easier for dismounted troops to establish security on the ground outside of their vehicles. What we're doing is we're putting in We've got three guys to put in a tank. I'd rather put a tank down there, yeah?
Once the security perimeter is established the engineers can get to work. We're here to fit a water tank to the village mosque. It's part of a strategy to win the local people's support away from the Taliban. Because of all the precautions, the engineers feel safe enough to get on with the job.
SAPPER JAMES HAW: My point of view, it's just getting used to working with all the gear on, obviously all the Kevlar and that sort of thing. I've never been worried about the security side of things at all. As you see, these villages are cleared, cleared by infantry patrols before we come in. We've got no drama. I've never had any incident.
REPORTER: So you just get on with your job?
SAPPER JAMES HAW: Yup, yup. We've only got ourselves to worry about here, which is a good thing.
MARK LEITY: Any soldier has to be aware not just of going in there and fighting the enemy, that is not what it's about. Violence, using force is a means to an end. And the means...and the end is the hearts and minds of the people. If the people support you, then you will win.
But I was soon to learn that there's an inherent tension between fighting the Taliban and winning hearts and minds. Meanwhile, the Australian soldiers have seen someone suspicious.
SOLDIER 1: Get him behind you.
SOLDIER 2: That's him up there.
SOLDIER 1: Which one?
SOLDIER 2: The one going straight through.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. What - in green robes?
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, the one that just stood up and sat down.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. From here, just grab your camera, take a photo.
SOLDIER 2: From here?
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. Just to get the overall perspective of which house he's in.
The soldiers have spotted someone using a mobile phone. They want to make sure he's not passing on information to the Taliban.
SOLDIER 1: That's not him, though, that's not the one.
SOLDIER 2: Isn't it?
SOLDIER 1: That's him up there. Yeah, he's sitting down up the top there.
SOLDIER 2: OK. Mobile phones everywhere here now. Yeah.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah, bloke in front of us, bloke over there. OK, Charlie Two, I want you to start liaising with them blokes that have been talking on the mobile phones Charlie One on me.
SOLDIER 2: OK, mate, can you have everyone except him leave, move away?
TRANSLATOR: Just come in, come in, over here. Let's go. Do you want the blokes over the side?
SOLDIER 1: No, we'll get them next time. He's got a pistol. Watch him. Watch him.
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, I'm watching him. Can you move out the way please?
SOLDIER 1: Is he in the Afghan army? Police? He's a policeman. Yeah, no-one comes in closer. OK, just take a photo of that. Can you take a photo of that?
The man says he's a policeman, but he is from Chora, a district that has fallen to the Taliban many times. There is no way to tell if he is the enemy.
SOLDIER 1: Bit dodgy for a cop.
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, I know. Dodgy. Yeah. Hey, Moorey, where are you? OK, roger that. I want you to pull back. You can go to your original positions coving to the north.
This strategy of fighting and development was introduced to the south last year by this man - NATO's British commander, General David Richards. In January I was invited to travel to Kandahar with Richards who controls NATO's 35,000-strong force. He's going to meet with his commanders in the south and it will be his last visit before his posting here ends.
Over the past year, the troops under Richards have suffered from some of the heaviest fighting since the invasion in 2001. Richards has spent much of his time calling for more troops to cope with the resurgent Taliban.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS, FORMER NATO BRITISH COMMANDER: But there was a little debate, just put it to bed, whether or not the extra US forces would come put under me. Well, that's been cleared up they will. So don't worry about that.
But Richards knew that along with extra troops he needed to win the support of the local population. He said the fight with the Taliban was bogging down foreign forces, and he recommended negotiation and development as a way out.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: Then you see certain nations say, "You can't do that." But we can massage them. I think we've got a pretty good plan. No, I'm very happy with that approach.
It was an approach that angered the Americans, but Richards is convinced that it's worked.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I'm absolutely certain it's been a success. First of all, you can compare it with what might have been. And I take you back to last summer when we deployed into some of these tough areas for the first time and that just stirred up a lot of narcy-warriors as well as some Taliban that were there. But the Taliban at that time said they would defeat NATO, they were gonna kick the British out of Helmand. Subsequently they were going to mount a winter offensive. Well, there hasn't been a bomb let off in Kabul for four months that succeeded, so on and so forth. Self-evidently, the Taliban actually have failed to achieve their stated objectives. So we've set the conditions for success. I am not saying we have won but we have set the conditions for success. And that - given the relative paucity of troops, which are now being addressed, which is fantastic news - I think it is a plus for NATO and proved that we can do these things.
Despite Richards's upbeat assessment, almost 200 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan last year. Today he's meeting a high-level delegation from Canada which has suffered 44 casualties in the recent fighting.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I watched Canadian soldiers and leaders last summer through the most difficult part of the operation, come on through for NATO, for Canada, and I think - I'm a bit soft on this - for the whole free world. Including many fine Islamic states, of course, which we need to remember.
The problem for commanders in the south is that because of the high risk, most NATO countries refuse to send their troops there.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I think we'll hear news from one or two other nations about reinforcements. And it's not because we are worried about a Taliban spring offensive, it's because we believe we've established conditions over the last year, against some people's expectations, which will work as a really good launching pad for further success in 2007.
'Success' last year meant 4,000 dead civilians and Taliban. Back in the south, the Australian soldiers have moved to another village. The atmosphere here is tense, and the soldiers have formed a tight cordon around us. The engineers decide to dump the furniture they've built at the mosque and leave. No-one is prepared to say why we're pulling out, but for the moment security clearly trumps reconstruction.
REPORTER: Did you feel that there was more threat, there was a higher threat level there than at the first one?
LIEUTENANT DAN LE BRETTON: We did find some weapons. But all in all, we have to work with a gut feeling in the end. We don't always see the threat and the threat may or may not be there, so we go in hard and we just always plan and always work for the worst-case scenario and that way usually works.
We drive to a defensive mountain position a few kilometres away and set up camp for the long, cold night. The men take it in turns to watch the surrounding hills for Taliban.
As we saw yesterday with these Australian soldiers working in those two villages in Uruzgan, they are working in a very high-risk environment. They are working to gain the trust of the population but it is the same population that they can't afford to trust themselves. Like the wider NATO mission in the whole of the south, this is going to take a long time, it's going to take a lot of resources and it's not a conflict that is going to be won on the battlefield.
Realising this last year, NATO commander General Richards negotiated a controversial cease-fire with the Taliban in a town called Musa Qala. One US NATO general reportedly said that if Richards was American he would be sacked.
GENERAL DAVID RICHHARDS: First of all I should say I am attributed with many things, one of which is that I dreamt up that deal. It's the sort of thing I thought we should be doing because there is a lot of good Taliban out there as well as some we can't do anything with except fight, I'm afraid. Where are we today? Well, there has been no fighting in the 5km radius that covered by this deal for about four months now. That means the schools are back working again, children being educated, the bazaar's open, the mosque is being rebuilt, all things that couldn't have happened. We just want to remember that. In other words, people aren't still dying there, including British soldiers.
Just days after my interview with General Richards, he handed his command to an American general and his cease-fire was in tatters. The Taliban retook the town of Musa Qala and NATO air strikes then killed the local Taliban commander. Many civilians fled. The Americans had accused Richards of allowing the Taliban to regroup and now they felt vindicated. It now looks like NATO's new American commander will revive the more aggressive approach that previously turned people back to the Taliban.
Dateline filmed these American marines at work in the south three years ago and there was no sign of an attempt to win over hearts and minds.
TOWNFOLK, (Translation): The Americans had a sledge hammer this big to force open the gates. They broke down the gates.
In the south today, the Australians' approach is very different. They've brought pencils and colouring books for the local children.
SOLDIER: This just a small token, it's only a new turban, a new headdress for him.
And they hope to keep the village elder onside by giving him a turban, or loonghi.
SOLDIER: Hopefully he likes it and it's suitable. It's just a small gift between the Australians and himself.
ELDER (Translation): Our people have been wearing this for a very long time..Loonghis are very popular in Kandahar. We buy this for 120 afghanis a metre.
As the soldiers learn, even a simple gift can have a double meaning.
ELDER, (Translation): Most of the Taliban also wear something like this. Most of them think they're Taliban because Taliban also wear this kind of turban.
SOLDIER: Oh, right.
The hard work of sorting friend from enemy continues. Then, on the road outside the village, soldiers spot someone familiar. It's the man they searched yesterday, the one with a gun who claimed to be a police officer. They're alert, but not especially alarmed.
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: The only suspicious blokes, I'd say, were them ones from yesterday.
REPORTER: They were the ones who had the guns yesterday, is that right?
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Say again?
REPORTER: Was that the one who had the gun yesterday?
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Yeah. When we asked him if he had any weapons he didn't tell us until we'd done the search and we found that nine mil on him. Apparently he's a cop but he didn't have any ID or nothing. He's not a fully qualified cop but he still had a weapon. He was the only bloke that we've seen today, and a few of his offsiders that were with him yesterday. Pretty same old, same old. We've been to this area before.
The soldiers admit that their enemies are sophisticated. They can't see them, but the Australians know that the Taliban are tracking their movements.
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Pretty high level of spotting activity around here but we never really observe it so they must be pretty concealed, well concealed or in places too far away for us to actually observe them.
REPORTER: So they're basically spotting to try and find
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Yeah, there's talk... there's been talk There's been talk that there are medium-value individuals around this area. But yeah, basically there is no bad vibe - children running around, there's women and elders running around so it seems pretty secure.
The Australians are doing their job in this small corner of southern Afghanistan but they are only 370 out of 35,000 NATO troops. And there are huge problems with security throughout the country, even in the capital, Kabul. Previously safe, Kabul was rocked by more than 50 suicide bombs last year. At one stage, UN workers refused to go the main UN office for fear of attacks.
ADRIAN EDWARDS, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESMAN: You cannot expect people to have confidence in institutions in the state if the state is not delivering. In 2007 will we be able to rapidly turn around and deliver those things. Probably not immediately.
REPORTER: Do you think there is the political will in the international community for that to happen, for that long-term commitment?
ADRIAN EDWARDS: Whether there is or not. There needs to be. There is no question about that. Afghanistan needs to work. It can work still.
But it is not just a question of more troops. Afghan politicians from the south such as Nasima Aliazi say that the behaviour of soldiers has been part of the problem.
NASIMA ALIAZI, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, (Translation): The foreign forces made a lot of mistakes, they really did. They ruined people's homes. I mean, they came here to rebuild Afghanistan, they didn't come to take over Afghanistan. The people got very upset with their actions. So even if their numbers increase, I don't think they'll bring greater security. If they really wanted to, they could do it with two foot soldiers.
Australia plans to double its troop deployment this year but the extra soldiers won't be engineers they're special forces whose job is to kill, not reconstruct. The international forces will have more men but whether they'll be fighting or rebuilding is up to their commanders and of course - the Taliban.
Reporter/Camera
JOHN MARTINKUS
Editors
NICK OBRIEN
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
Subtitling
MINA ZAKI
Producer
AMOS COHEN
This is the only way to get to where the Australians are based in Southern Afghanistan. Last year I travelled here by road, but the 4-hour drive from Kandahar is now too dangerous to risk. The NATO base in Tarin Kot is effectively cut off from the outside world. 2,000 Dutch troops share this huge, fortified base with about 370 Australians. All equipment and personnel are moved in by air. It's a massive operation replicated throughout southern Afghanistan as NATO forces struggle to maintain a presence.
MARK LEITY, NATO SPOKESMAN: We're actually set well for 2007. We've had some pretty tough times and I don't think anyone should try to avoid that. I think when we arrived here the situation in the south, which is where most of the trouble has been, was probably worse than we realised and as a result there was a lot more fighting that we had to do. There was less opportunity for reconstruction and development.
Australia's contribution is set to double later this year, and I've obtained permission to spend a couple of days watching the ADF at work.
Last year Australian special forces and commandos in Tarin Kot were replaced by engineers and infantry. Their new strategy emphasises reconstruction but it's backed up with overwhelming firepower. Today, on our way to a local village, we have about 20 armoured vehicles and a predator drone an unmanned reconnaissance plane - overhead. On the outskirts of the village we stop and wait while soldiers cautiously spread out and advance on foot.
MAJOR HUGH MEGGITT: What we're doing is we are just setting up the security posture down in the village where we are about to commence work on. And once that security is established we'll then move those engineers' stores down and commence work. It's a less aggressive posture for the locals and it's certainly much easier for dismounted troops to establish security on the ground outside of their vehicles. What we're doing is we're putting in We've got three guys to put in a tank. I'd rather put a tank down there, yeah?
Once the security perimeter is established the engineers can get to work. We're here to fit a water tank to the village mosque. It's part of a strategy to win the local people's support away from the Taliban. Because of all the precautions, the engineers feel safe enough to get on with the job.
SAPPER JAMES HAW: My point of view, it's just getting used to working with all the gear on, obviously all the Kevlar and that sort of thing. I've never been worried about the security side of things at all. As you see, these villages are cleared, cleared by infantry patrols before we come in. We've got no drama. I've never had any incident.
REPORTER: So you just get on with your job?
SAPPER JAMES HAW: Yup, yup. We've only got ourselves to worry about here, which is a good thing.
MARK LEITY: Any soldier has to be aware not just of going in there and fighting the enemy, that is not what it's about. Violence, using force is a means to an end. And the means...and the end is the hearts and minds of the people. If the people support you, then you will win.
But I was soon to learn that there's an inherent tension between fighting the Taliban and winning hearts and minds. Meanwhile, the Australian soldiers have seen someone suspicious.
SOLDIER 1: Get him behind you.
SOLDIER 2: That's him up there.
SOLDIER 1: Which one?
SOLDIER 2: The one going straight through.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. What - in green robes?
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, the one that just stood up and sat down.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. From here, just grab your camera, take a photo.
SOLDIER 2: From here?
SOLDIER 1: Yeah. Just to get the overall perspective of which house he's in.
The soldiers have spotted someone using a mobile phone. They want to make sure he's not passing on information to the Taliban.
SOLDIER 1: That's not him, though, that's not the one.
SOLDIER 2: Isn't it?
SOLDIER 1: That's him up there. Yeah, he's sitting down up the top there.
SOLDIER 2: OK. Mobile phones everywhere here now. Yeah.
SOLDIER 1: Yeah, bloke in front of us, bloke over there. OK, Charlie Two, I want you to start liaising with them blokes that have been talking on the mobile phones Charlie One on me.
SOLDIER 2: OK, mate, can you have everyone except him leave, move away?
TRANSLATOR: Just come in, come in, over here. Let's go. Do you want the blokes over the side?
SOLDIER 1: No, we'll get them next time. He's got a pistol. Watch him. Watch him.
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, I'm watching him. Can you move out the way please?
SOLDIER 1: Is he in the Afghan army? Police? He's a policeman. Yeah, no-one comes in closer. OK, just take a photo of that. Can you take a photo of that?
The man says he's a policeman, but he is from Chora, a district that has fallen to the Taliban many times. There is no way to tell if he is the enemy.
SOLDIER 1: Bit dodgy for a cop.
SOLDIER 2: Yeah, I know. Dodgy. Yeah. Hey, Moorey, where are you? OK, roger that. I want you to pull back. You can go to your original positions coving to the north.
This strategy of fighting and development was introduced to the south last year by this man - NATO's British commander, General David Richards. In January I was invited to travel to Kandahar with Richards who controls NATO's 35,000-strong force. He's going to meet with his commanders in the south and it will be his last visit before his posting here ends.
Over the past year, the troops under Richards have suffered from some of the heaviest fighting since the invasion in 2001. Richards has spent much of his time calling for more troops to cope with the resurgent Taliban.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS, FORMER NATO BRITISH COMMANDER: But there was a little debate, just put it to bed, whether or not the extra US forces would come put under me. Well, that's been cleared up they will. So don't worry about that.
But Richards knew that along with extra troops he needed to win the support of the local population. He said the fight with the Taliban was bogging down foreign forces, and he recommended negotiation and development as a way out.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: Then you see certain nations say, "You can't do that." But we can massage them. I think we've got a pretty good plan. No, I'm very happy with that approach.
It was an approach that angered the Americans, but Richards is convinced that it's worked.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I'm absolutely certain it's been a success. First of all, you can compare it with what might have been. And I take you back to last summer when we deployed into some of these tough areas for the first time and that just stirred up a lot of narcy-warriors as well as some Taliban that were there. But the Taliban at that time said they would defeat NATO, they were gonna kick the British out of Helmand. Subsequently they were going to mount a winter offensive. Well, there hasn't been a bomb let off in Kabul for four months that succeeded, so on and so forth. Self-evidently, the Taliban actually have failed to achieve their stated objectives. So we've set the conditions for success. I am not saying we have won but we have set the conditions for success. And that - given the relative paucity of troops, which are now being addressed, which is fantastic news - I think it is a plus for NATO and proved that we can do these things.
Despite Richards's upbeat assessment, almost 200 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan last year. Today he's meeting a high-level delegation from Canada which has suffered 44 casualties in the recent fighting.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I watched Canadian soldiers and leaders last summer through the most difficult part of the operation, come on through for NATO, for Canada, and I think - I'm a bit soft on this - for the whole free world. Including many fine Islamic states, of course, which we need to remember.
The problem for commanders in the south is that because of the high risk, most NATO countries refuse to send their troops there.
GENERAL DAVID RICHARDS: I think we'll hear news from one or two other nations about reinforcements. And it's not because we are worried about a Taliban spring offensive, it's because we believe we've established conditions over the last year, against some people's expectations, which will work as a really good launching pad for further success in 2007.
'Success' last year meant 4,000 dead civilians and Taliban. Back in the south, the Australian soldiers have moved to another village. The atmosphere here is tense, and the soldiers have formed a tight cordon around us. The engineers decide to dump the furniture they've built at the mosque and leave. No-one is prepared to say why we're pulling out, but for the moment security clearly trumps reconstruction.
REPORTER: Did you feel that there was more threat, there was a higher threat level there than at the first one?
LIEUTENANT DAN LE BRETTON: We did find some weapons. But all in all, we have to work with a gut feeling in the end. We don't always see the threat and the threat may or may not be there, so we go in hard and we just always plan and always work for the worst-case scenario and that way usually works.
We drive to a defensive mountain position a few kilometres away and set up camp for the long, cold night. The men take it in turns to watch the surrounding hills for Taliban.
As we saw yesterday with these Australian soldiers working in those two villages in Uruzgan, they are working in a very high-risk environment. They are working to gain the trust of the population but it is the same population that they can't afford to trust themselves. Like the wider NATO mission in the whole of the south, this is going to take a long time, it's going to take a lot of resources and it's not a conflict that is going to be won on the battlefield.
Realising this last year, NATO commander General Richards negotiated a controversial cease-fire with the Taliban in a town called Musa Qala. One US NATO general reportedly said that if Richards was American he would be sacked.
GENERAL DAVID RICHHARDS: First of all I should say I am attributed with many things, one of which is that I dreamt up that deal. It's the sort of thing I thought we should be doing because there is a lot of good Taliban out there as well as some we can't do anything with except fight, I'm afraid. Where are we today? Well, there has been no fighting in the 5km radius that covered by this deal for about four months now. That means the schools are back working again, children being educated, the bazaar's open, the mosque is being rebuilt, all things that couldn't have happened. We just want to remember that. In other words, people aren't still dying there, including British soldiers.
Just days after my interview with General Richards, he handed his command to an American general and his cease-fire was in tatters. The Taliban retook the town of Musa Qala and NATO air strikes then killed the local Taliban commander. Many civilians fled. The Americans had accused Richards of allowing the Taliban to regroup and now they felt vindicated. It now looks like NATO's new American commander will revive the more aggressive approach that previously turned people back to the Taliban.
Dateline filmed these American marines at work in the south three years ago and there was no sign of an attempt to win over hearts and minds.
TOWNFOLK, (Translation): The Americans had a sledge hammer this big to force open the gates. They broke down the gates.
In the south today, the Australians' approach is very different. They've brought pencils and colouring books for the local children.
SOLDIER: This just a small token, it's only a new turban, a new headdress for him.
And they hope to keep the village elder onside by giving him a turban, or loonghi.
SOLDIER: Hopefully he likes it and it's suitable. It's just a small gift between the Australians and himself.
ELDER (Translation): Our people have been wearing this for a very long time..Loonghis are very popular in Kandahar. We buy this for 120 afghanis a metre.
As the soldiers learn, even a simple gift can have a double meaning.
ELDER, (Translation): Most of the Taliban also wear something like this. Most of them think they're Taliban because Taliban also wear this kind of turban.
SOLDIER: Oh, right.
The hard work of sorting friend from enemy continues. Then, on the road outside the village, soldiers spot someone familiar. It's the man they searched yesterday, the one with a gun who claimed to be a police officer. They're alert, but not especially alarmed.
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: The only suspicious blokes, I'd say, were them ones from yesterday.
REPORTER: They were the ones who had the guns yesterday, is that right?
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Say again?
REPORTER: Was that the one who had the gun yesterday?
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Yeah. When we asked him if he had any weapons he didn't tell us until we'd done the search and we found that nine mil on him. Apparently he's a cop but he didn't have any ID or nothing. He's not a fully qualified cop but he still had a weapon. He was the only bloke that we've seen today, and a few of his offsiders that were with him yesterday. Pretty same old, same old. We've been to this area before.
The soldiers admit that their enemies are sophisticated. They can't see them, but the Australians know that the Taliban are tracking their movements.
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Pretty high level of spotting activity around here but we never really observe it so they must be pretty concealed, well concealed or in places too far away for us to actually observe them.
REPORTER: So they're basically spotting to try and find
CORPORAL CARLO NOVAK: Yeah, there's talk... there's been talk There's been talk that there are medium-value individuals around this area. But yeah, basically there is no bad vibe - children running around, there's women and elders running around so it seems pretty secure.
The Australians are doing their job in this small corner of southern Afghanistan but they are only 370 out of 35,000 NATO troops. And there are huge problems with security throughout the country, even in the capital, Kabul. Previously safe, Kabul was rocked by more than 50 suicide bombs last year. At one stage, UN workers refused to go the main UN office for fear of attacks.
ADRIAN EDWARDS, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESMAN: You cannot expect people to have confidence in institutions in the state if the state is not delivering. In 2007 will we be able to rapidly turn around and deliver those things. Probably not immediately.
REPORTER: Do you think there is the political will in the international community for that to happen, for that long-term commitment?
ADRIAN EDWARDS: Whether there is or not. There needs to be. There is no question about that. Afghanistan needs to work. It can work still.
But it is not just a question of more troops. Afghan politicians from the south such as Nasima Aliazi say that the behaviour of soldiers has been part of the problem.
NASIMA ALIAZI, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, (Translation): The foreign forces made a lot of mistakes, they really did. They ruined people's homes. I mean, they came here to rebuild Afghanistan, they didn't come to take over Afghanistan. The people got very upset with their actions. So even if their numbers increase, I don't think they'll bring greater security. If they really wanted to, they could do it with two foot soldiers.
Australia plans to double its troop deployment this year but the extra soldiers won't be engineers they're special forces whose job is to kill, not reconstruct. The international forces will have more men but whether they'll be fighting or rebuilding is up to their commanders and of course - the Taliban.
Reporter/Camera
JOHN MARTINKUS
Editors
NICK OBRIEN
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
Subtitling
MINA ZAKI
Producer
AMOS COHEN