Abbott's Backyard: From Islamabad to Beirut

Check out the reach, justification for, and cost of Australia's military madness to come:

"Australia's new Defence Minister David Johnston* says he wants the military to be battle-ready for future conflicts in the unstable Middle East and south Asia, even including the possibility of fresh trouble in Afghanistan. Senator Johnston said that after 14 years of involvement in overseas conflicts from East Timor to Afghanistan, the Australian Defence Force had a strong fighting momentum that should not be lost. In an interview with Fairfax Media, he said he planned to maintain and 'augment our readiness' for future fights, which would most likely be in the unstable region stretching from Pakistan to the Middle East. 'It will be Pakistan across to Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan,' he said. 'That's the area where there'll be instability and that's the area that we might need to go back into at some point in the future. I can't forsee that right now, but... if you were to look at where the next area of instability is likely to be - and we're seeing it unfolding in Syria today - a contribution from Australia is most likely to be in that part of the world in the future... I think Pakistan is also highly problematic.' The West Australian senator... said he did not see Australians fighting in Syria... 'Operationally, we're starting to come down [in Afghanistan] so we've got to maintain some interest for the troops. They've got to keep training, got to keep a level of readiness'... The Coalition has vowed to boost defence spending by about $35 billion over the next 10 years..." (War footing: Mideast the next hotspot, David Wroe, Sydney Morning Herald, 21/9/13)

[*Rambammed: 2008]