Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has congratulated the US on executing the secret military operation that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Mr Rudd, who met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC on Monday, also re-affirmed Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan.
"Today is a moment in history to be here in Washington with our friends and allies in America, a city which was under attack from terrorists just under a decade ago, and a city where we have heard
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the news that Osama bin Laden is dead," Mr Rudd said.
"It's a time when we also reflect on the absolute professionalism of American forces in discharging this mission, which has been of critical importance to so many of us around the world.
"And we congratulate them."
Australian forces are deployed in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014.
'Staying the course'
Mr Rudd said Australian troops "will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete".
"We respect President Karzai's 2014 date, and we are well on track towards achieving that, and we see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," he said.
Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, the US says.
Ms Clinton thanked "all of our partners around the world" for helping in the hunt for bin Laden and other members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Ms Clinton said al-Qaeda was responsible "for the murders of so many individuals, most of whom over the last years have been Muslim, in countries not only in the United States and Europe but
as far away as Bali, Indonesia where many Australians were murdered".
"Our resolve, our reach, and our partnerships and alliances, including the one we share with Australia, create a strong foundation on which we are defending freedom and pursuing justice
on behalf of people everywhere around the world who seek a better life," Ms Clinton said.
