Source:
Australian BroadcastingMr Fitzgibbon has returned from NATO talks in Lithuania and is confident a new strategy for defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan will emerge at the next summit in April. But he says he is shocked that up until now, Australia has not had access to crucial information on NATO strategy.
"I'm frankly very surprised and disappointed that the former government was making decisions to send our men and women to war, and to keep them at war, without having a seat at the decision-making table - basically doing so on a no-questions-asked basis," he told ABC Radio's AM program. "A government can't make informed decisions about whether to send our people to war and to lead them in the battlefield if it doesn't have information about the strategy and therefore can't make an assessment about the prospect of success."
Mr Fitzgibbon says he "made it clear" that from now on Australia would expect to have a say in NATO's decision-making on Afghanistan strategy.
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"We have a lot to offer in this regard and as a country, making such a significant contribution relative to our size, and as a non-NATO country, we are entitled to have our say and I expect that we will get that opportunity in the future.
"I'm determined that in the future, NATO ... will never sit down to make decisions about future directions of Afghanistan, decisions that affect our men and women so greatly, without Australia being present."
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/11/2159165.htm