Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Sunday defended her country's involvement in Afghanistan after three troops were shot dead and seven wounded in an attack by a rogue Afghan soldier. Speaking in Perth, she said the nation's deadliest incident in the conflict since three soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in 2010 would concern Australians.
"I well and truly understand that when you see losses in Afghanistan, in particular when you see losses of this kind, that it does cause the Australian people to question our deployment in Afghanistan," she said.
Thirty-two Australian troops have been killed so far in the conflict but Gillard said Canberra would not be deterred from its mission of training and mentoring Afghan soldiers in restive Uruzgan province.
"We are there because it's in our national interests to be in Afghanistan," she said, adding that Australia's 1,550 soldiers were making progress and had a defined mission.