Word: australianness
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...Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan have a fearsome reputation for capturing and killing high-value Taliban targets in Oruzgan, a lawless province southwest of Kabul. The aggressive approach of the Special Air Service regiment and Army commandos complements the regular forces' efforts to win hearts and minds by providing security and building roads, bridges and hospitals...
...least, that is how things are supposed to work. But last month the twin strategies collided when one of President Hamid Karzai's allies, Rozi Khan, was killed in a firefight with Australian special forces about 35 km northeast of the provincial capital, Tarin Kowt...
...night of Sept. 17-18, according to an Australian Defence Force spokesman, a special forces patrol was moving to "conduct a planned activity" when it was fired on. The Australians "fired back in self-defense." The ADF spokesman says "a number of groups" including Afghan police were involved in the fight, which left three Afghans dead. He says the Australians appear to have followed their rules of engagement, and their actions were "appropriate and proportionate in what was a complex and lethal environment...
...back at their assailants, who were only about 20 m away. The elders rushed Khan to hospital but he was dead on arrival. At first, Khosal says, the locals "were thinking it was the Taliban who had done the shooting. Then they heard someone calling out. It was the Australians' interpreter, who was surprised and was asking, Who are you?" When Khan's men replied, "We are police," Khosal says, they were told to lay down their weapons. Khosal says the Australian troops offered no medical assistance to the wounded Afghans. The ADF spokesman says that continuing fire meant...
...Khosal's brother Dawood says local tribes want Australian troops to quit the area, but he does not believe President Karzai has the power to order them out. In a meeting in Kabul, he says, Karzai offered to continue paying his father's salary every month. The Australian government says it is negotiating to pay compensation to Khan's family. ADF head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said, "We deeply regret [Khan's] death. We are working very closely with [Khan's] tribe to ensure that this has no far-reaching negative effects on our operations in the province...