The struggle for Afghanistan’s future.

NATO has reported that the vetting process is expected to take more than two months for the 27,000 Afghan troops serving under ISAF command, and that no training of new Afghan troops will take place during that time.

These attacks add another dimension of concern to the continuing debate about the presence of international forces in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has adopted many of the guerrilla warfare tactics that have been used by past insurgents facing a vastly superior military force.

These tactics are to destabilise the country through sabotage, hit and run ambushes, bombs and terrorising the local populace.

It is motivated by the principle that while an occupying force has to provide 100 per cent security for the local people to win their confidence, the guerrilla can undermine that confidence through targeted attacks against key people and institutions.

Insurgencies are difficult to defeat because they rarely engage in direct combat against conventional forces with superior weapons, and cannot be easily identified among the local population.

This has been the challenge for conventional military forces over hundreds of years.

That does not mean the resolve of the ISAF should wilt in the face of insurgent attacks.

It was always the case that after the Taliban was removed from power, the Afghan people would have to take ultimate responsibility for their own security, but that it could not be achieved overnight.

Thousands of soldiers, including Australians, have fought and many have given their lives in pursuit of that goal.

In my conversations with members of the Special Air Service Regiment, some of whom are based in my electorate in Perth, they report enormous gains in their efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

They are committed to the task and understandably express frustration that the positives are rarely reported while the negatives are headline news.

If those who are putting their lives on the line to ensure Afghanistan has the best possible hope of not falling into the hands of extremists remain committed to that cause, it is vital they receive the unqualified support of every Australian while ever they remain in harm’s way.