Australia”s prime minister made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to wish Australian troops a merry Christmas and thank them for their service.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd flew into Afghanistan on Wednesday and spent a couple of hours on the ground with soldiers before flying to Abu Dhabi on Thursday. It was his second visit as prime minister to Afghanistan.
“I”m going to go home and spend Christmas with my wife and three kids and you”re not,” Rudd told soldiers gathered at the Tarin Kowt base, describing the area as a “hellhole.”
“The nation will be thinking of you this week,” he said.
Australia has about 800 troops at the base, composed mainly of a reconstruction task force and a special forces unit.
“I was going to bring a crate load of beer, but that wasn”t allowed,” Rudd joked, instead presenting the troops with a cricket set.
The prime minister”s visit, which was kept secret for security reasons until he left Afghanistan, follows recent trips by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President George W. Bush. Rudd also toured the Australian warship the HMAS Parramatta, which is helping guard Iraqi oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
Seven Australian soldiers have been killed in the war in Afghanistan since 2001, when a U.S.-led coalition invaded to overthrow the hard-line Taliban regime for sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders.
Rudd visited Afghanistan on the same day as a British soldier with dual Australian citizenship was killed in fighting in the southern Helmand province, an Australian government official said Thursday.
