http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/nathan-mullins/ Nathan Mullins is currently a Security and Risk Adviser for Australian Volunteers International. He is a former policeman and Australian Army Special Forces soldier who served on operations in Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea. He has worked in the humanitarian sector for the last few years, responding to disasters in such places as Burma, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. He has written two books, with his latest book Keep Your Head Down (Allen & Unwin) chronicling his operational tour of Afghanistan in 2009-10 and his impressions of Australia’s involvement. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/ Three more Australians are dead, and seven injured, in Afghanistan. It’s even more tragic because it appears the killer was an Afghan soldier, a colleague. Follow the news at news.com.au. Nathan Mullins spent time with the Australian Special Forces in Oruzgan, and this is his perspective on the many questions that beset Australia about our role in Afghanistan. What are ‘we’ doing in Afghanistan? People ask me whether we can win the war. That’s not the important question. The question is whether we should be trying to ‘win’ in the first place. But before that the question is: who’s ‘we’? We the Coalition, we the Australian Army, we Australians, or indeed, we the western world? It’s a long way from Melbourne to Afghanistan, both geographically and figuratively, but when I had the chance to fight in the hills and valleys of Uruzgan with the Australian Special Forces, I did it. I needed to know if ‘we’ should be there. When I decided to go I thought I represented the Australian Army. While I was there I realized that the people of Afghanistan feel isolated from the rest of the world. They didn’t see me as an Australian soldier, or an Australian really, they saw me as a citizen of a world that was so foreign to them as to barely exist. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nathan Mullins) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/#item6995 Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:45:44 +0000 Nathan Mullins | Author bios | The Punch