Australia’s engagement with Asia and the world has fallen on hard times
In the vain hope of minimising the catastrophic consequences of America’s 16-year long military intervention, Donald Trump has just announced yet another surge in its military presence in Afghanistan. Australia, like other allies, will also be asked to do more, and will almost certainly agree to the request.
This is part of the now familiar pattern that has seen Australia despatch military forces to Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. It is a reminder of the same reflexive mindset that has prompted Malcolm Turnbull’s recent comments linking ANZUS to the Korean crisis. In this case, the response is so ill-informed as to be comical, and so bereft of common sense as to be tragic. Australia’s foreign and security policies, it seems, have now descended into pure farce.
