http://au.news.yahoo.com//080427/2/16mwv.html
Monday April 28, 12:03 PM
Rudd warns of more Afghanistan deaths
Afghanistan remains a dangerous and difficult place and Australia must steel itself for further military casualties, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
The death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 27, killed in a firefight with the Taliban on Sunday night, represented a sad day for the nation and a tragic day for his family, Mr Rudd said.
The security situation in Afghanistan, where 1,000 Australian personnel are operating, remained grim.
"This ...remains a difficult and dangerous operating environment for the ADF (Australian Defence Force), most particularly in Oruzgan province," Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.
"It is likely to become more difficult in the period ahead.
"We are facing a change of season - as the winter snows melt and the spring thaw begins - which usually indicates a heightening in military activity on the part of the Taliban and al-Qaeda."
The rest of this year would be "difficult and dangerous and bloody" and the Australian nation needed to prepare itself for further losses.
Lance Corporal Marks is the fifth Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002. Another 31 have been injured, including four in Sunday night's attack.
Lance Corporal Marks was a member of an Australian commando unit preparing for a company level attack on Taliban insurgents about 25km south-east of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.
ADF head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said the company was "out in the open".
"As they were doing their preparations, they were engaged by the Taliban. There was a heavy exchange of fire," he said.
Mr Rudd says history is against the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, which has a bloody history of resisting foreign forces.
"We are there because a failed state was giving open succour and support to a global terrorist organisation - al-Qaeda - which then attacked our ally the United States on September 11, 2001, and in the process murdered 3,000 people," he said.
"Nothing has changed since then."
The Australian soldier's death follows a failed assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai by Taliban fighters on Sunday.
Mr Rudd says he would not have committed Australian troops to Afghanistan had he not believed there was a strategy which could ultimately prevail.
The prime minister attended a recent NATO summit in Bucharest which adopted an integrated long-term plan for achieving victory in Afghanistan.
"Nonetheless, this is not a blank cheque and it will be subject to rolling review," he said.
Mr Rudd says there are no plans to send additional Australian troops to Afghanistan.
"We believe our contribution is significant.
"It is the largest contribution of a non-NATO power to the operation in Afghanistan and we believe it is sufficient for our current purposes.
"The key thing is to make sure that other parties engage in effective burden sharing and there is an effective civilian correlation to the military effort."
Opposition defence spokesman Nick Minchin expressed condolences to the family of Lance Corporal Marks.
"This attack and the assassination attempt on the Afghani president proves again the determination of the Taliban to wreck the progress of reconstruction in Afghanistan," he said in a statement.
"And it reinforces the importance of our mission supporting the bringing of peace and prosperity to Afghanistan."
The uncle of Lance Corporal Marks says his family is "just devastated" at the loss.
Kenneth Marks, of Broken Hill in the NSW far west, described his nephew as a dedicated soldier.
"It's a shame, he was a good man and he had a family," he told AAP.
"He was trying to serve his country and he didn't come back.
"Everybody is just devastated."
His family is expected to release a statement later on Monday, the ABC has reported.