One of the Federal Government s top national security officials has warned the drums of war are beating amid rising tensions with China.
In an Anzac Day message to staff, Home Affairs Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo said Australia must work to reduce the risk of war but not at the cost of our precious liberty . Today, as free nations again hear the beating drums and watch worryingly the militarisation of issues that we had, until recent years, thought unlikely to be catalysts for war, let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war, Mr Pezzullo said.
Samiullah Omari (far right) with Australian and US soldiers in Afghanistan.
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He says he regularly spent nights in the desert with the Australians, interpreting between villagers and the diggers as well Afghan soldiers in training near the capital.
“We were just soldiers without guns and we helped them out in the fields,” he says.
The 29-year-old has spent more than a decade helping foreign forces in Afghanistan - and that s made him a prime target for militant and terrorist groups hostile to the presence of the ‘invaders’.
To the Taliban and other groups, Afghans like Samiullah are considered traitors and spies.
Newington Armory
Australia
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Event description About this Event
Join a leisurely walk as we travel back in time to when Newington Armory was the major naval depot on the east coast of Australia.
This tour starts with the first land grant to John Blaxland through to the establishment and early days of the Armory. Hear stories of another era relating workers at the Armory. Tour iconic Armory buildings from the 1897 period, including the old Gunpowder Magazine with lamplight tunnels and museum displays from days of the Armory.
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We need to ‘think about the lessons’ from Afghanistan and Iraq16/04/2021|6min
ANU Professor John Blaxland says Australia “needs to learn” as a nation from the War in Afghanistan.
“You and I are both strong supporters of our alliance with the United States,” Professor Blaxland told Sky News host Catherine McGregor.
“But we’re now at a junction where the United States actually needs some help, it needs to be thinking through what the future might hold”.
“And we need to be thinking for ourselves, we haven’t done that properly in the past.”
Professor Blaxland said we have “let the Americans take the lead in doing the thinking” and it “hasn’t been all that constructive”.