SYDNEY: Australia has pulled all its troops out of Afghanistan, marking the end of the nation’s longest overseas military deployment.
In a press conference in Sydney on Monday, the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that his country paid a high price as 40 troops were killed and 261 injured seriously in Afghanistan. He, however, said that that sacrifice did not go in vain.
The Australian premier said that this war is ending, not with victory, not with defeat, but with hope that Afghanistan is a better place and Uruzgan in particular is a better place for our presence.
The withdrawal of Australian combat troops from the war-torn country came to an end after the last combat troops left Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan where they had been providing their services since late 2005.
Some 400 Australians will remain in Afghanistan in non-combat roles, mostly in Kabul and Kandahar, but the bulk of the 1,550 Australians who had been serving there were now out of the country.
