Arabic version: كانبيرا تحيي 25 عاماً من الخدمة في أفغانستان

According to The Guardian, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined hundreds of veterans, family members and dignitaries at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Sunday to commemorate 25 years since Australia began its involvement in Afghanistan. Ben Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient who denies allegations that he murdered five unarmed detainees during his deployment, was among the crowd.

Albanese said Australian personnel deployed after the September 11 attacks because freedoms central to Australia’s identity were under threat. Recalling the start of Operation Slipper, he said Australia went to support its friend and ally and regarded the attacks as an assault on a way of life shared by Australians.

More than 35,000 Australian defence force members deployed over the following two decades. Forty-seven Australian personnel died as a result of their service and 263 were wounded. Deployments to the Middle East continued until Australia withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021; Operation Slipper was followed by Operation Highroad between 2015 and 2021 and the Kabul airlift in August 2021.

Roberts-Smith attended with family members and supporters after a judge varied his bail conditions to permit the Canberra visit. Former prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison also attended, along with governor general Sam Mostyn, opposition leader Angus Taylor and Roberts-Smith’s partner, Sarah Matulin.

Commemorative services were also held at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park, Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and other locations. Former lance corporal Mathew Bell, who deployed in 2012, said his unit’s work enabled girls to attend school and brought medical services to villages, while recalling combat dangers including a close friend being seriously wounded by a roadside bomb.