It is hard to regard the latest Australian death in Afghanistan as being anything but in vain. Until our political and military leaders articulate a coherent political strategy for stabilising Afghanistan, all of our military efforts will be futile. Australian and NATO troops are hardly ''winning hearts and minds'' defending one of the world's most corrupt governments. Harmid Karzai's re-election next month will be a formality considering that it is not safe enough for any other candidate to actually campaign. The re-election of Hamid Karzai and his cabal of warlords will do nothing except further enrage the Afghan people who have no reason to support a government that can't guarantee their safety outside the walls of Kabul. The claims by Kevin Rudd that defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan will prevent terrorism in Western countries is absurd as there is no evidence to support this. The September 11 attacks were planned in Germany with funding coming from Saudi Arabia and the 2005 London bombings were planned in Leeds by UK citizens who if anything were motivated by the war in Afghanistan. Let us hope that our politicans do not attempt to cynically turn the public sympathy evoked by the death of our soldiers into increased support for this futile war.
Simon Leeds, Nicholls
Help Indonesia
Positive engagement with Indonesia is essential, and will bear more fruit than continuing the costly bearing of arms farther abroad. Investing in school and skills should become an AusAID priority. The latest campaign to unsettle the re-elected democratic Indonesian Government with the savage return of bombs through Jakarta should only intensify Australia's aid resolve focused on education.
TAFE Institutes worked with AusAID with the joint $20 million World Bank China Chongqing vocational schools, and more recently installing a most successful TAFE-model with the Australian Pacific Technical Colleges, across five Pacific Islands. Trade missions have continued to receive funding to Indonesia, yet the appetite for substantive schools and skills investment has remained weak. Nicholas Stuart's column (''Defusing regional booby traps'', July 21, p9) is timely in reminding authorities that positive engagement is urgently needed.
Martin Riordan, CEO, national secretariat CIT Southside Campus, Woden
Nothing achieved
I couldn't agree more with Nicholas Stuart (''Defusing regional booby traps', July 21, p9), that while the US and its allies in Afghanistan continue to describe the conflict in acronyms and statistical analysis, the Taliban and their supporters march on regardless killing Australian, British and American soldiers almost at will. None of which seems to worry the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who, like his predecessor, continues to chant that terrorism will be defeated (''Aust stands firm as 11th digger dies'', July 20, p1).
Which sounds fine, except that Rudd fails to tell us how and when this objective will be achieved.
And no wonder, for none of the goals of the last eight years to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, eradicate the opium crop and improve governance has been accomplished. Which is why the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has stated that American public opinion will wear thin in Afghanistan unless significant progress is made in the course of the year; and not the two years or longer, which is the prediction of the newly appointed US commander, General Stan McChrystal. Surely, it is time the Australian people were asking why are we in Afghanistan, before more soldiers' lives are lost in pursuit of an increasingly elusive goal.
Sam Nona, Burradoo, NSW
Sacred sites
It seems that when it comes to sites considered sacred for Aboriginals, for example Uluru, our PM doesn't care who climbs or walks over the it, but when it comes to people climbing or walking over what he considers sacred, for example, St John Church, then that's a very different story (''Chaser in trouble'', July 21, p10).
The Chaser Team, in my opinion, have done what years of neglect have failed to do: that is respecting all religious or cultural views.
Kevin Rudd cannot say that there is nothing wrong with climbing Uluru unless he is prepared to support church climbers.
David Cavill, Kambah
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