The protection of Australian aid workers in Afghanistan will be reviewed after an AusAID adviser was injured in a suicide bombing attack, Defence Minister Stephen Smith says.
David Savage, 49, a former Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer and peacekeeper, is in Germany in a serious but stable condition after the attack on Tuesday.
It happened near the main Australian base as he returned from a community meeting in the Chora Valley, north of Tarin Kowt.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed three NATO soldiers and injured an Afghan National Army soldier.
A Taliban spokesman said the attack was in direct retaliation for the murder of 17 Afghan civilians by US Staff Sergeant Robert Bales two weeks ago, Fairfax reported.
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Mr Smith said it was unclear whether a child was responsible for the suicide bombing or if the attack was in retaliation for Bales' attack.
Mr Savage was under force protection provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at the time of the attack.
An automatic review of the arrangements would be undertaken, Mr Smith said.
"But to date we have been satisfied, not just with the force protection measures that the Australian Defence Force personnel provide for Australian aid workers and civilians, but satisfied with the force protection measures provided by our friends and our partners in Afghanistan," he told ABC Radio.
"But that'll be the subject of a review in the usual way."
The defence minister said there would be an exhaustive assessment of the attack to examine if Mr Savage was targeted by the suicide bomber.
The use of children in such matters was "absolutely contemptible", Mr Smith said.
"We've seen in the past Taliban using children of very early ages to engage in such activities and we treat that with nothing but contempt."
The murder spree by Bales was a setback, which coalition forces were still working through, the defence minister said.
Bales was charged with 17 premeditated murders as well as six counts of assault and attempted murder in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province.
The killings - mostly of women and children - are believed to be the deadliest war crime by a NATO soldier during the decade-long conflict and have tested an already tense relationship between Washington and Kabul.
Mr Savage was treated at Tarin Kowt initially before he was transferred to the medical facility at Kandahar for more advanced treatment and then on to Germany.
