REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Monday, October 1, 2001

AUSTRALIAN soldiers may have already been involved in the war against terrorism inside Afghanistan.

It was believed members of Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment have joined American and British special forces troops carrying out reconnaissance missions inside the mountainous country in the hunt for terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden.

Defence Minister Peter Reith declined to reveal the whereabouts of the troops.

He said Australia had “a very close intelligence relationship (with the US) and ... we are assisting already and we have people already on exchange”.

In other developments, the trial began in Kabul of two Australian aid workers, Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas, and six of their international colleagues for allegedly preaching Christianity in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

In Sydney, ASIO and federal police raided homes in a search for terrorist sympathisers. Mr Reith said Prime Minister John Howard had spoken to US President George W. Bush over the weekend, Chief of the Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie was in Washington, and the Government was in constant contact with US military authorities.

Mr Reith said the US was aware of Australia’s capabilities so it was not a matter of Canberra having to make offers. “In due course I would expect there to be a formal request and a formal response,” he said.

“Quite frankly there is a lot going on in the security and intelligence area and for very sensible reasons the Government is muted in its public statements.”