Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 June 2015
111. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on the continued presence of Defence Forces personnel in Afghanistan, with particular reference to the prospect of the extension of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mission there. [21537/15]
View answerThis question is on the numbers and activities of our Defence Forces personnel who remain in Afghanistan given that they do so after the exodus of British troops and large numbers of US troops and the current and continuing destabilisation and insecurity that exists in that country. I am particularly concerned about this in light of the prospect of the extension of the NATO mission in the area and how our Defence Forces personnel feed into that or not.
On 9 December 2014, the Government approved the participation of seven members of the Defence Forces in the new NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, which commenced on 1 January 2015 following the withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, mission from Afghanistan. Resolute Support is a non-combat training and advisory mission. It is designed to support and develop the capacity of the Afghan National Defence Forces to ensure the security of the Afghan population and their national Government institutions following the withdrawal of the ISAF mission. The United Nations Security Council welcomed the Resolute Support mission with the unanimous adoption on 12 December 2014 of Resolution 2189. This resolution underscores the importance of continued international support for the stability of Afghanistan.
There are seven Defence Forces personnel deployed to the mission. They are based at the mission headquarters in Kabul. These personnel are employed in training and advisory roles in operations, training and support appointments. As I indicated, this is not a combat mission. The work being carried out by the Defence Forces personnel represents an important if relatively small contribution to the overall mission. The Defence Forces continue to monitor the security situation in Afghanistan and Irish participation with the Resolute Support mission is subject to ongoing review. Any decision in relation to continued participation in the mission beyond December 2015 will be taken in the context of the situation pertaining at the time and will be subject to Government approval.
Am I to take it from the Minister's response that the seven people who are there will remain there until the end of 2015? While the Minister says they are there to bring stability and support for Afghanistan, I put it to him that if that is their goal, it has been an abysmal failure.
They have only just begun there.
If they have only just begun, let us look at why they are there. Thirteen years ago, the Bush Administration went into Afghanistan supposedly to quash al-Qaeda and drive out the Taliban. Later, we were told the exercise was to eradicate poppy growing and emancipate women. The statistics show the loss of hundreds of British troops, thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghanis. A Taliban has been developed which is not weaker than it was in 2001 and which has in fact morphed into ISIS. Last year saw the most bountiful crop of poppies in the history of Afghanistan, the rights of women have considerably regressed and $100 billion has been spent on a country which is still one of the poorest, least developed and most corrupt in the world. How in God's name could anyone call that a success or want Ireland to have any part of it?
We are not talking about ISAF; that is the whole point. We are moving on from that. The mission Deputy Daly is talking about is no longer there.
It has left a great legacy.
What we are talking about now is a non-combat support mission to help with governance and security which are primarily provided by local populations in Afghanistan.
That is what is being supported by Ireland. We are supporting something that has been unanimously supported by the UN Security Council. We are providing seven people who have a specific training role and who are more than welcome both locally in Kabul and by the UN. A great many other countries are also participating in the Resolute Support mission. I do not have the exact figure, but it is more than 20 countries. This is a non-combat, non-military assistance programme whose aim is to help build domestic capacity in a country that has been torn apart and is trying to put itself back together over time. I am happy that Ireland is playing a small but real and significant role in those efforts.
The Minister says this is moving on from the ISAF. It does not make any sense for the Minister to expect the same people who wreaked havoc and destroyed a country to be involved in rebuilding it. The Minister talks about helping governance and security and so on. The seven people may be very able, and I do not doubt their abilities or their intentions in any way, but really, what can they do? Is this not about Ireland playing the role of a complicit and obliging follower of the United States? It has been said that it may not be a coincidence that Ireland's involvement was linked with the re-emergence of our beef onto the American market. Is it the case that we are being rewarded for showing our compliance? The reality is that seven people cannot play that role, and seven people will not undo the devastation and destruction of 13 years of rape, pillage and instability in that country, no matter how good they are.
With respect, I think the Deputy knows that this has nothing to do with access to the US market for Irish beef. Our participation is a conscious decision by Ireland to try to play a constructive role in rebuilding a country that needs help, quite frankly, and it is getting that help from many other countries in a non-combat mission. It is trying to put itself back together. We have specific expertise in a number of areas, which is recognised internationally. I refer in particular to expertise in counter-IED training, which is a big problem in Afghanistan. As a result of the conflicts, there are explosives everywhere. We have specific expertise in that regard as a result of our peacekeeping experience and our experience in training. We are offering valuable support to the overall Resolute Support mission, even if it is only seven people.
It is not just my opinion that this is the right thing to do; the UN has also said so. The international community has accepted that Resolute Support makes sense and they want to see it working. Ireland is part of the mission for now. Obviously we will keep our participation under review and we will make a decision at the end of the year as to whether we will maintain a presence there.
