Australia denies Nato request for troops in Afghanistan

Australia agreed with Nato’s secretary-general that Afghanistan’s burgeoning opium crop was a growing international problem, but refused a request to increase Australia’s military presence there to help deal with it, officials said today.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer this week became the first ever Nato chief to visit Australia, where he signed a security agreement between the alliance and the Pacific nation and held talks with the defence and foreign ministers.

De Hoop Scheffer invited Australia to play a greater military role in Afghanistan, where Nato provides security following the US-led war that ousted the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime in 2001.

Australia sent troops to the war, but their numbers have dwindled from 150 at the conflict’s height to just one soldier today.

“I think Australia could play an important role but I have to realize and I have to follow what the priorities of the Australian government are,” de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after today’s meeting in the capital, Canberra.

De Hoop Scheffer said the increasing opium harvest since the fall of the Taliban was Afghanistan’s biggest problem. The United Nations has warned Afghanistan may be becoming a “narco-state”.

“We need to find a solution for this problem because we cannot afford to send Nato forces into Afghanistan to provide security and stability and at the same time see Afghanistan developing into a narco-state,” de Hoop Scheffer said, adding that the international community should tackle the problem.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer agreed Afghan opium was an “enormous issue” that was out of control.

“There just isn’t the law and order capability there at the moment to deal with all the poppy growing that’s taking place,” Downer said. Opium, the raw product for producing heroin, comes from poppy plants.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said sending more troops was not a priority for Australia.

“We don’t have any plan at this time to send further troops to Afghanistan,” he said. “I’m sure they would be welcome.”

The government recently broke an election promise by agreeing to send 450 more troops to Iraq to complement Australia’s 900 military personnel in the Middle East.

Australian soldiers are working with Nato troops to train Iraq’s security forces.

The agreement signed between Nato and Australia involves improving communications on defence and counterterrorism information between the organisation and the nation.

An Australian defence official will be assigned to Nato in Brussels.