An Unwinnable War: Australia in Afghanistan, by Karen Middleton

Canberra Press Gallery journalist Karen Middleton has turned out a well researched and detailed history of Australia’s response to the war on terror, covering the period 2001 to 2011, with special concentration on Afghanistan. She shows how John Howard took Australia to war in Afghanistan, the intention being a short campaign and a swift exit. Ten years on, Australia is still militarily engaged in Afghanistan with no end in sight. This is a war Australia’s political leadership desperately wants to get out of, but can’t figure out how to without loss of honour.

Karen Middleton is Chief Political Correspondent and Canberra Bureau Chief for SBS television, and has also written extensively for such publications as The Age, Herald Sun and Canberra Times. An Unwinnable War, published by Louise Adler at Melbourne University Press, is her first book.

An Unwinnable War’s pessimistic title doesn’t really reflect its contents, and was probably thought up more as an attention grabber or sales gimmick. This is no anti-war polemic, but more a balanced and fair Australian political history of the so-called war on terror period, from 2001 to the present date. While An Unwinnable War advertises itself as an exclusive analysis of Australia’s involvement in the Afghanistan war, that subject probably only takes up about half of the book (maybe even less). The rest is made up of detailed chapters on Iraq, Australia’s federal elections and Australia’s political and military leadership. There’s also a substantial amount that deals with America’s diplomatic dealings with Australia.

Middleton is impressive in her attention to detail and sheer volume of research, presenting it all in an accessible and engaging style. Readers of whatever political persuasion will find her work illuminating and instructive, shedding much light as a journalistic insider on how the political and military machinations work when a major alliance partner like America asks Australia to support – whether it be in moral or practical terms – one of its wars. Middleton provides plenty of fascinating interview material with the major players, many of them reflecting back on their key decisions. Coalition figures like John Howard, John Anderson and Alexander Downer discuss in 2011 the thought processes and intellectual positions that led them to the actions they took in the 2001 to 2003 period. There are a few interesting minor changes of heart on how Australia went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq from these main players, but by and large they stand by their decisions.

While An Unwinnable War is not an anti-war tract, the overall picture it paints of Australia’s involvement is of a country that more slipped into war than actively saw it as an imperative for national defence. Australia didn’t really go to war in Afghanistan, but rather maintained its alliance with America. Giving limited military support to America’s war in Afghanistan, and backing that up with full and unequivocal moral support, was seen as a good insurance policy for Australia. In effect, we could piggy back our security onto America’s huge military capability. The cost benefit analysis of this was seen to be overwhelmingly in Australia’s favour.

Interestingly, John Howard, who committed Australia to war in Afghanistan, saw the country’s involvement as being strictly limited to a short, sharp military campaign. Howard was strongly opposed to any notion of nation building. The last thing he envisaged was Australia being in Afghanistan for over ten years. Once that initial phase of the military engagement had been performed in 2001, Australia’s presence turned into a single desk non-military role. From 2002-2005, Australia basically forgot about Afghanistan, while it got involved in Iraq.

Then from 2005 Australia, at the request of the Americans, became re-engaged in Afghanistan, dramatically stepping up our military presence in the area. After John Howard had entered Afghanistan with the intention of only being there in a very limited capacity, and for a very short time, Australia found itself nation building for the long haul. This was the very opposite of what John Howard had intended in 2001. In 2011, Australia remains in the country for the unforeseeable future.

An Unwinnable War presents an Australian political and military leadership that seemed to have convinced itself that it could go into Afghanistan for a very short and on its own terms. Ten years down the track, the tone is one of confusion, regret and helplessness that Australia is stuck in Afghanistan. Australia’s political leadership doesn’t really believe in the war in Afghanistan, hence its limited and qualified terms of engagement, its grudging attitude. This is all quite amazing, when you consider that Australians have died in a war that its leaders would run a mile from if given the chance.

Karen Middleton has put together a first class history of Australia’s wars in Iraq and specifically, Afghanistan. The amount of detail is fascinating, and the extensive interview material is quite often revealing. The final picture is of a semi-deluded leadership who genuinely thought they would be in Afghanistan for a short time, and had no real interest in rehabilitating the country or liberating its people. This is the price of alliance with a great power.

An Unwinnable War: Australia in Afghanistan, by Karen Middleton. Published by Melbourne University Press. ISBN: 978-0-522-85766-5