Sydney, Thursday 18 December 2008: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to assure Australian troops they have not been forgotten over the Christmas period, the national news agency reported on Thursday.

In a mission that was kept secret for security reasons until Rudd had left Afghanistan, the prime minister slipped out of the northern city of Darwin on Tuesday afternoon and flew overnight to Abu Dhabi.

He then flew into Afghanistan on Wednesday and spent about two-and-a-half hours on the ground at the Tarin Kowt base in the volatile Uruzgan province before leaving again for Abu Dhabi.

Rudd reassured the troops they had not been forgotten, that their mission against Taliban insurgents was worthy, and reflected on the deaths of seven Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

“I’ve been to too many funerals and I don’t like going,” he said. “But when we say goodbye to one of our own, the nation is united in a common purpose.”

Rudd empathised with the troops who will spend Christmas in what he called “a hell hole” and a “Godforsaken place”.

“I’m going to go home and spend Christmas with my wife and three kids and you’re not,” he said. “The nation will be thinking of you this week.”

It was Rudd’s second visit to Afghanistan since he took over as prime minister late last year.

Australia has a total of about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in southern Uruzgan province.

Rudd was due on Thursday to tour the Australian warship the HMAS Parramatta which is helping protect offshore Iraqi oil assets before returning to Canberra on Friday.
(Agency