Some female politicians in Afghanistan say more Australian women in uniform will help to improve the behaviour of men in the Afghan forces.

Women on the frontline are nothing new for some countries serving in Afghanistan - Canada lost its first female soldier killed in action back in 2006.

Now the Federal Government wants to lift the ban on sending Australian women into combat, but it is unclear if Afghanistan is ready for female diggers.

Senior political, religious and military figures in Afghanistan have strongly criticised the plan, saying women on the frontline will be targeted by the Taliban.

Shinkai Karokhail, a female member of the Afghan parliament, does not support women going into combat.

But she believes Australia should send more female soldiers to Afghanistan to set a good example to Afghan men who are not pulling their weight in the development of the country.

"To change the mentality of some Afghan men, we can make them more civilised," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/13/3190050.htm?section=justin

Stephen Smith's office says the Defence Minister has received threats in the wake of a sex scandal at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

The threats were confirmed as fresh allegations emerged of systemic bullying and bastardisation, sometimes bordering on sexual assault, at the Academy.

And Defence says it is still investigating personnel who allegedly set up a Facebook hate page to vilify serving gay members of the Defence Force.

Mr Smith has been criticised by some in the Defence community after announcing a raft of reforms in the wake of the Academy's webcam sex case last week.

The case exposed a lurking power struggle between Mr Smith and Defence top brass, with the Academy's commander stood down and Mr Smith and Defence Chief Angus Houston forced to deny claims Air Chief Marshal Houston threatened to resign over the issue.

Now the minister's office says it has received several threats via email.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/13/3190029.htm

NATO has a new program, the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program. In its first 10 months it ''signed up'' 1740 fighters. But it cost more than $US140 million, and the numbers are still only a fraction of the 20,000 to 40,000 active Taliban fighters across the country.

For Aziz, laying down his weapons has brought reward, but also risk. He now has a high-paying and influential government job as director of haj and religious affairs for the province of Kandahar. He is living again with his family - two wives, four daughters and four sons - after years of separation. Their fortified compound in the upmarket Kandahar suburb of Shari Naw is paid for by the government. But so, too, is the monstrous 24-hour security detail he needs.

Aziz has less freedom than he did as an outlaw. Six watchtowers surround the house, which is at the end of a street blocked to traffic by high concrete walls. When he travels, three armoured vehicles full of guards move with him.

Critics of the program say too few of the recruits have been senior Taliban, commanders able to bring other fighters with them, and that the program is weak in the east and south where the insurgency is strongest. But it is more rigorous than its predecessor, and Aziz, a cleric, is keen to preach its virtues.

''The war is not the solution. The government needs to intensify the peace process. It must talk to the Taliban, ease the fighting, release the Taliban prisoners and inshallah [God willing], peace will be achieved in Afghanistan. This is my message to my brothers [in the Taliban]: come over.''

The program requires potential recruits to spend three months in a safe house on ''parole'' while the sincerity of their decision to quit the war is assessed. They are photographed and biometrically scanned, before being given a short-term stipend, typically $US120 a month for a fighter, $US150 for a commander. Longer-term, their communities are rewarded with development projects and aid grants.

But many in NATO remain sceptical that hearts and minds hardened by 10 years of fighting can be won over by inducements from an occupying army, particularly one that has promised to leave in three years. Three registered former fighters were part of a mob that stormed a UN compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in April and killed eight foreign aid workers. ''It's a crap shoot,'' said one intelligence officer in Helmand on condition of anonymity. ''We go to shoot them and they shout 'reintegration'. They're using it so we can't target them.''

But the program's head, a British major-general, Phil Jones, says the future of reintegration is promising. ''People realise that this program is a benefit to entire communities, not just individuals. It is not a 'guns-for-peace' program but a way for former fighters to lead peaceful and productive lives for their own benefit as well as for the benefit of their communities.''

Analysts say there is little choice but to work with the Taliban. A decade of war has proven them indomitable.

''Contacting them, talking to them, and hopefully at some point, seriously negotiating with them, is a must,'' Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, says. ''It will still take time, and a lot more people will be killed, unfortunately, but it has to be done, because the Taliban are too big to be destroyed militarily.''

Making allies of former senior Taliban also offers the West a greater insight into those they are fighting. Aziz insists that any brokered peace will have to involve power shared with the Taliban, whom he still believes had right on their side.

''We rose legitimately,'' he says. ''I can convince you and, inshallah, the world that we were right. We took up arms against bandits, thieves and militias ... against foreign forces raiding us ... and Afghan officials.''

Noor-ul-Aziz has a small garden in his new house, ringed by high fences of barbed wire. He rarely travels much farther these days, and the nearby mountains he called home for years he can likely never visit again. But he does not regret and sees no inconsistency in his decision to change sides.

''I don't consider this a surrender. I've rather joined my brother [Afghans]. I will serve the people of Afghanistan with great honesty. I have served with honesty on [the] Taliban side, and will do so here, too. I beg God to stop Afghan bloodshed. We have shed enough.''

No surrender, no regrets for Taliban turncoat

Anyone "being a turncoat" is mostly often a double agent and the US would have to know that, beyond the rosy picture they are trying to sell us. During WWII, a chief double agent handler such as Masterman would know how difficult it was to manage people who played two masters for personal gain... We've seen some Afghan army personel  shooting allied troops for whatever reason... The double agents would know the drill too....

What a warm glow it must give the nation that the only point of consensus in federal politics that is unworthy of any discussion or debate, is that we keep sending our boys off to Afghanistan to get shot.

Jason Purvis Balmain

Letters Column

Sydney Morning Herald

October 31st, 2011