ON YA TONY.. HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
THE LABRATS WONT LIKE THAT.. GILLARD PROMISED 2014..
BUT US LIBS ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU AND
HAPPY CHRISTMAS.
NATIONAL NEWS
Prime Minister Tony Abbott pulls troops out of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan
STAFF WRITER NEWS LIMITED NETWORK DECEMBER 16, 2013 1:54PM
Leading Aircraftman Noel Klaehn lets Australians know he and his mates will be home for Christmas during his final day in Oru...
Leading Aircraftman Noel Klaehn lets Australians know he and his mates will be home for Christmas during his final day in Oruzgan Province. Source: Supplied
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says the last Australian soldier has left Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan.
Canberra Defence Minister David Johnston said the last troops left Oruzgan yesterday.
"They are in the air on the way home,'' he told reporters in Sydney.
Mr Abbott thanked the soldiers for their service, saying they had paid a high price with 40 dead and 261 seriously wounded.
"Oruzgan today is a very significantly different and better place than it was a decade ago," he said.
The Federal Opposition has questioned Prime Minister Julia Gillard's motives as she prepares to announce that most Australian soldiers will be pulled out of Afghanistan before the next election.
In a speech to be delivered to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute this lunchtime, Ms Gillard will lay out plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan a year earlier than originally planned.
A 2013 pull-out date will be a year in advance of the 2014 deadline previously laid down by NATO-led international forces