Diggers take it to Taliban

AUSTRALIAN special forces in Afghanistan have struck at Taliban insurgents in their heartland in a series of secretive, brutal engagements waged across some of the most hostile terrain the commandos and Special Air Service troopers have ever fought in.

The fight for south-central Oruzgan province was a pivotal battle and one with crucial security implications, the commander of Australia's special forces, Major General Mike Hindmarsh, said yesterday.

In a rare interview, Major General Hindmarsh said SAS operations had thrown the Taliban "off balance", helping prevent insurgent attacks on the key provincial centres of Tarin Kowt and Kandahar.

"The Taliban, they're tough resilient fighters, but they're also a nasty bunch of bastards and our guys are very happy about the work they're doing there," he told The Australian.

The hard fighting has come at a cost, with 14 Australian special forces soldiers wounded since deploying to Afghanistan in 2005.

This year, emboldened Taliban insurgents have mounted repeated attacks against NATO-led coalition forces, resulting in the worst violence in Afghanistan since the Islamic extremists were ousted from power in 2001.

Suicide bombings have soared and about 4000 people have been killed over the past 12 months, a quarter of them civilians.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned yesterday that Afghanistan was a "litmus test" for NATO and would be "a mark of shame on all of us" if the alliance faltered in laying the foundations for democracy there.

The fact that there have been no Australian fatalities owes as much to good luck as the intensive training special forces undergo.

In several injury cases, a "few millimetres" difference would have resulted in certain death, Major General Hindmarsh said, referring to recent close fighting.

"One thing we can't be accused of is being obsessed with force protection - in other words, staying in base camp and venturing out every now and again," he said. "We like to patrol, and patrol in depth, which means well out, and we like to do it for lengthy periods of time.

"Our special forces modus operandi in Afghanistan is to get out there - get among the enemy and spend a long time in their (the Taliban's) safe areas, becoming as familiar with that environment as the enemy."

That involved gruelling patrols lasting a week or more into rugged mountainous terrain where the temperature ranged from 50C in summer to minus 15C in winter.

The environment was hard on vehicles and harder on the soldiers, requiring extreme levels of fitness and mental toughness, Major General Hindmarsh said. Every aspect of a patrol was meticulously planned.

The secret war pitting Australian special forces against the Taliban was classic counter-insurgency involving small, long-range patrols pushing deep into enemy territory, he said.

The effect had been "unsettling" for the Taliban and had helped thwart attacks on the city of Kandahar and the town of Tarin Kowt, where the Australian reconstruction taskforce is based.

Major General Hindmarsh was unapologetic about the level of secrecy surrounding SAS operations in Afghanistan. The Taliban were technically savvy, had access to the internet and closely monitored any news involving the movement of Australian special forces, he said.

The elite Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment marks its 50th anniversary this week.