Fed: Ministers failed to get exit strategy from US: Bishop

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2009
Fed: Ministers failed to get exit strategy from US: Bishop

By Stephen Johnson

CANBERRA, April 11 AAP - Two Rudd government ministers failed to get an exit strategy
from Afghanistan when they met US cabinet secretaries in Washington, the federal opposition
says.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon met with their
US counterparts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates,
on Friday in Washington as part of the Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the ministers failed to extract
a possible exit strategy from Afghanistan from the US at the talks.

"It was an ideal opportunity, with Mr Smith and Mr Fitzgibbon meeting the Secretary
of State and the Secretary of Defence, yet we're none the wiser to any extent about an
increased commitment the US is expecting of Australia," Ms Bishop told AAP.

"Australia would want to hear from the (US) government what they had in mind."

Ms Bishop said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had campaigned on an exit strategy from Iraq,
and needed to do the same with Afghanistan.

Mr Fitzgibbon said this week Australia would not commit more troops to Afghanistan
unless NATO increased its commitment and the US outlined a new strategy to fight the Taliban
insurgents.

Ms Bishop agreed NATO had failed to provide adequate support in the Afghanistan war.

AAP saj/apm

KEYWORD: AFGHAN BISHOP

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