Australian troops are making a positive contribution in Afghanistan in operations that have changed markedly in the last two years, the commander of Australia's military intervention in the region says.
Air Vice Marshal Tim Innes says former SAS troop commander turned federal MP Andrew Hastie is entitled to his 2014 opinion that military operations in Afghanistan were "poorly conceived".
But he says two years on things have "moved on and changed markedly".
"I'm very confident that our troops over there now are making a very positive contribution in Afghanistan in stabilising their government from what has been a tough time and still is a developing and tough time over there as far as security goes," he said.
Mr Hastie claimed in a 2014 essay, excerpts of which were published on News Corp websites on Anzac Day, that the stakes were too high to allow a union of "poorly conceived policy and military means".
"People will be killed - and often times they will be innocents."
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