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The American take on our Afghan debate

04 Nov 05:50am

Filed under: Afghanistan War, Diplomacy, Hilary Clinton, Jeff Bleich, United States

Ahead of US Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Australia this weekend, The Punch caught up with US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich to discuss the recent parliamentary debate on Afghanistan and the US mid-term elections.

United States Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich makes no secret of the fact he was watching the debate on the Afghan war pretty closely.

American soldiers rush the wounded to a helicopter. Picture: Gary Ramage

“We were obviously very interested in it because Australia is a key partner is Afghanistan. Our take on it was that this is healthy. We did extensive internal review at the end of the 2009 to determine what’s the best course and how do we see this resolving and what are we going to need to do it.

“That was heavy internal conversation, and I think with all our partners we want them to have, if there are doubts, to have that honest discussion,” he told The Punch yesterday.

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FFS says:

03:07am | 07/11/10

Marilyn pretty much makes up figures, stats and situations in her head. The utter tripe that she comes out with is laughable. My guess would be that Marilyn is a first-year arts student running hard with the holier-than-thou kneejerk anti-American, anti-government, pro-everything-non-western, completely illogical, ridiculous and without a single basis… Read more »
The Badger says:

02:29pm | 06/11/10

Marylin I think you meant the moron yank (Bush). and I seriously don’t think that Australian troops are “Drug addicts, ill educated losers most of them who become brutes and savages in ten seconds flat.” Sounds like you are describing the Qld or WA Police force. PS - your financial… Read more »

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