Defence Minister Stephen Smith has tried to hose down speculation that Australia could be tied up in the war in Afghanistan until 2020.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday said that Australia would "remain engaged" beyond 2014 with a "support, training and development task to continue in some form through this decade at least".
But Mr Smith later suggested that ongoing work would be mostly development assistance rather than training the Afghan army and police.
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"The prime minister made it clear we believe we can meet our timetable of two to four years in terms of training the Afghan national security forces in Oruzgan province," the defence minister told ABC TV.
"(But) the prime minister also made it very clear that she sees Australia's engagement in Afghanistan, particularly on the civilian development assistance capacity-building front, extending for a number of years to come.
"I think that's where the so-called 2020 deadline or timetable has come from."
Mr Smith said the international community would also be involved in development assistance in Afghanistan "for a long period".
He argued that Australia's exit strategy would be determined by the success of the main mission to transition "security, capacity and lead responsibility" to the Afghan army and police.
