For most of a decade, Australia spent blood and treasure in Oruzgan Province, withdrawing all forces at the end of last year.
What's happening there now, no one really knows - though the consensus from Australian commanders is that it's doing OK.
Commander of Australian forces in the Middle East, Major General Craig Orme said Australia had no ongoing presence in Oruzgan but there was some reporting through the International Security Assistance Force's regional command south,
"It certainly hasn't gone to hell in our absence. It is tracking along with the general performance of Afghanistan," he said.
"We made a valuable contribution. The people of Oruzgan remember Australians with fondness and a great deal of affection."
Australian troops first deployed into Oruzgan Province in 2005, with more than a 1000 serving there at the peak. All withdrew at the end of last year but some 400 Australian personnel remain in a variety of mentoring and assistance roles in Kabul and Kandahar.
Most of Australia's 41 casualties occurred in Oruzgan.
Major General David Coghlan, a senior Australian officer in the International Security Assistance Force joint command, said as coalition forces withdrew, less and less was known about the regions they vacated.
He said official Afghan reporting ranged from all was going great to everything was going bad, which meant please provide more resources.
"One of the difficulties with any province we have lifted off is we just don't know," he said.
"My understanding (of Oruzgan) is that by and large it's under control."
In the case of Oruzgan, there were pockets where the Taliban were trying to reassert themselves but the governor and chief of police down there are doing a good job, he said.
Another Australian officer who commanded Australia's special operations task group in Oruzgan and now commands all ISAF NATO special operations forces said it was difficult to gain a sense of what was going on.
"I monitor reports of the insurgency in the south. However, it's difficult to gain informed views on the security situation in TK (Oruzgan Province capital Tarin Kowt) and the old stomping grounds of northern Kandahar," he said.
He said there was no sense that conditions in Oruzgan were significantly deteriorating.
"We have some Australian staff embedded in regional command south that I expect would get a better sense," he said.
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