‘Disgrace’: Late soldier’s dad says war achieved nothing

Hugh Poate says his son predicted the fallout in Afghanistan before he was killed by fire while deployed at Baluchi Valley in 2012.

Hugh Poate says his son predicted the fallout in Afghanistan before he was killed by fire while deployed at Baluchi Valley in August, 2012.

The father of Brisbane-based Private Robert Poate said the speed at which the Taliban swept through the country was “despicable” after militant forces entered the nation’s capital Kabul on Sunday.

But Mr Poate and his late son believed the writing was on the wall.

“We always felt that the Taliban would eventually regain control because there was no shortage of new Taliban members to step into dead men’s shoes,” he said.

“You can’t fight a war like that and win.

“It’s very disappointing particularly because our son went to try and win the war and by the time he got there we had won the war we went there for, which was to kill Osama bin Laden and destroy the terrorist training camps, but for some unknown reason America wanted to start killing off all the senior Taliban and that was an exercise in futility.”

Private Robert "Poatey" Poate served with the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in Afghanistan before his death in August of 2012. Picture: Facebook

Robert was killed during an insider attack at Patrol Base Wahab.

The shots which also took the lives of Lance Corporal Rick Milosevic and Sapper James Martin were fired by an Afghan National Army soldier, who was a sleeper Taliban infiltrator.

The Australian soldiers were part of Mentoring Team Bravo and their main role was to mentor the Afghan National Army before handing over control of the security of Afghanistan to the ANA and the Afghan National Police.

Mr Poate said his effervescent and gregarious son was a popular member of his battalion who wanted to do his job properly.

Private Robert "Poatey" Poate.

“That’s all any of them wanted to do, and be remembered for what they do and saving the country,” he said.

“But unfortunately successive governments have failed to learn lessons and I think our safety in this country has been imperilled as a result.

“We’ve made an enemy of the Islamic world to a far greater extent than existed before we went to Afghanistan because we’re a strong ally of America.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday morning told ABC’s News Breakfast that no Australian had died in vain and fighting for freedom was worth it, “whatever the outcome”.

The parents of Private Robert Poate who died in Afghanistan, Hugh and Janny Poate at home in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage

But Mr Poate said he believed all Australia had achieved in Afghanistan was the deaths of 41 soldiers overseas, and the death of 500 back home from suicide.

“That’s not achieving anything, that’s a disgrace,” Mr Poate said.

“I can’t speak on behalf of the other families but as far as I’m concerned I’m very disappointed that the Prime Minister continually says we’ve achieved something. But he hasn’t really articulated what it is we’ve achieved.”

Robert’s death led to a five year quest by his family to find out what really happened, and whether the murders could have been prevented.

Mr Poate detailed his findings in his book Failures of Command.