RSL RESONSE TO US PRESIDENT’S CLAIMS
The Returned & Services League of Australia (RSL) categorically rejects the assertion by United States’ President Donald Trump that allied forces "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines" in Afghanistan.
This claim is factually wrong, historically ignorant, and deeply offensive to the 47 Australian service personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice, the 261 wounded, and the nearly 40,000 Australians who served in our nation's longest war.
The facts speak for themselves:
Australian forces were among the first coalition troops into Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks. The SAS was on the ground two weeks after 9/11 with the US Marine brigade of the legendary General James Mattis.
RSL Australia National President, Peter Tinley, was there as Deputy Commander of the Special Forces Task Group in those opening months.
“For two decades, Australians operated in Uruzgan Province, one of the most dangerous regions in the country. Our troops didn't "stay a little back." They conducted offensive counter-insurgency operations, cleared Taliban strongholds, defused roadside bombs, mentored Afghan forces under fire, and fought in sustained close combat.
“To our veterans, I say I understand what you are feeling today. I feel it too. Many of you deployed multiple times, missed births, funerals, and years of your children's lives. Some of you carry visible and invisible wounds that will never fully heal. And some of you are caring for mates who are struggling or grieving those who didn't make it home.
“To have that service dismissed so casually is a profound insult. Your service mattered. Your sacrifice mattered. No ill-informed comment can diminish what you did for this nation and our alliance.
“To the families of the fallen, I tell you that we hold your loved ones in sacred trust.
“The 47 names on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour, from Sergeant Andrew Russell, killed in 2002, to Corporal Cameron Baird in 2013, represent the finest of our nation. They were sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. They gave everything. Australia will never forget them, and RSL Australia will never allow their sacrifice to be dishonoured or disrespected.”
Lest we forget.
Read the full media statement on the RSL website: https://www.rslaustralia.org/.../rsl-australia...
