War on terror enhanced US ties, John Howard says

The former PM has reaffirmed his view that 9/11 represented ‘an attack on our way of life’ which justified Australian ­involvement in Afghanistan.

Former Prime Minister John Howard. Picture: Justin Lloyd

John Howard has argued that the alliance with the US was strengthened during the war on terror ­following the 9/11 attacks that triggered the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The former prime minister has now reaffirmed his view that 9/11 represented “an attack on our way of life” which justified Australian ­involvement in the Afghanistan conflict, with co-operation between Canberra and Washington having deepened over the past two decades.

“Our forces are now more accustomed to working together and are more interoperable than before,” Mr Howard said. “The posting of Australian service men and women to the Pentagon and various other joint commands has reinforced this.

“So, too, our longstanding ­intelligence-sharing agreem­ents, along with our privileged access and contribution to those arrangements, have so far prevented further attacks on our nations.

“The trust and respect which have developed between our ­national security professionals as a result of working so closely ­together, particularly over the past 20 years, complements the text of the ANZUS treaty.”

Mr Howard made the comments in a new piece written for an Australian Strategic Policy Institute publication examining the ANZUS treaty after 70 years.

He said our shared values explained why Australia had fought alongside the US “from World War I to Afghanistan”.

The former prime minister was in Washington during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and first met George W Bush on September 10, 2001. Being in Washington during the terrorist crisis “had a powerful effect on me,” Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard also said he wrote to Mr Bush on September 11, 2001, declaring the US president could be “assured of Australia’s resolute solidarity with the American people at this most tragic time”.

“My personal thoughts and prayers are very much with those left bereaved by these despicable attacks upon the American people and the American nation,” the letter read.

Mr Howard went on to invoke the ANZUS treaty before committing troops to Operation Enduring Freedom, the mission that was aimed at ridding Afghanistan of terrorist training camps.

“The attacks on America’s commercial heart and its capital clearly constituted an attack upon the metropolitan territory of the US within the meaning of articles IV and V of the ANZUS treaty,” Mr Howard said.

“More than that, our commitment was a statement of friendship and solidarity – an expression that America and Australia stand together in a common cause.”

He argued the relationship with America was “forged in the Indo-Pacific” but was “strengthened during the war on terror”.

He argued the ANZUS treaty continued to be a “force for stability in the region” 70 years after it was signed on September 1 1951.

The publication, released on Wednesday, features articles by former Labor leader Kim Beazley and ex-Liberal leader Brendan Nelson, as well as Mr Howard.

Australia’s US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos said Australia and the US had an opportunity “to ­reflect on the impact, value and future direction of the alliance”.

Mr Howard has not yet made any public comments following the fall of the government in Kabul and the return of the Taliban to power.