Australia will commit an extra 30 troops to Afghanistan, taking its deployment to 300 Australian Defence Force personnel.
The Defence Minister Marise Payne announced the troop boost to politicians at a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
“These additional ADF members will allow Australia to commit additional advisers to further develop the long-term capabilities of the Afghan security forces as part of our current train, advise and assist mission,” she said.
The government will confirm where and how the troops will be deployed in the next few weeks.
“The request we received here wasn’t for combat troops on the ground,” Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin told the hearing.
“The request was in areas that we provide very good capability, which is growing the Afghan national defence and security forces.”
The Australian commitment to Afghanistan is known as Operation Highroad, which replaced combat operations in 2014.
Since Australian troops were first sent to Afghanistan in 2001, 42 troops have died.
