John Howard defends the war on terror, says Australia owed a ‘debt’ to the US

A former prime minister has defended Australia’s involvement in the war on terror as the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan.

Former Australian PM John Howard said Australia owed a ‘debt’ to the US after WWII. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

Former prime minister John Howard has defended the US-led war on terror in the wake of Afghanistan’s rapid and violent fall to the Taliban following the withdrawal of US troops.

Writing in a recently released report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Mr Howard said the war on terror that triggered the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had served to strengthen the US-Australian alliance.

“September 11 had been an attack on the American way of life and, because of our shared values, it was also therefore an attack on (Australia’s) way of life,” Mr Howard wrote.

He said the US-Australian alliance was a relationship “forged in the Indo-Pacific, strengthened during the war on terror and permanently part of (Australia’s) future security.”

Mr Howard stressed the importance of the strengthened relationship, noting the events of 9/11 “changed the psychology of the United States profoundly”.

“Despite having the most powerful military the world has ever known, Americans have long felt vulnerable,” he wrote.

“They worry about being friendless and alone.”

Former prime minister John Howard pledged Australia’s allegiance to then-US President George W Bush following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

US President Joe Biden has come under fire after he claimed the US military operation in Afghanistan was purely aimed at preventing a terror attack on American soil and not about improving life for the Afghan people.

“Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be about nation building – what it has always been is preventing a terrorism attack on the American homeland,” Mr Biden said on Monday.

Former Australian ambassador to Israel and current Liberal MP Dave Sharma said he was “disappointed” by Mr Biden’s speech.

“In Afghanistan, we were never going to create Singapore or Central Asia, but we also never wanted to leave a failed state or a state of deep civil war,” he told the ABC on Tuesday.

The Taliban has taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul. Picture: Al Jazeera / AFP

But Mr Howard said Australia’s assistance during the war of terror was part of a “debt” owed to the US after their help during World War II.

“(Australia’s) commitment (during the war on terror) was a statement of friendship and solidarity – an expression that America and Australia stand together in a common cause,” he wrote.

“Although our military and intelligence services have long had close associations, the campaigns we have fought alongside each other undoubtedly strengthened those bonds.”

Originally published as John Howard defends the war on terror, says Australia owed a ‘debt’ to the US