Australian troops help reop Afghanistan supply route

29/08/2008 11:03:21

Australia's Defence Force says Australian troops have played a major role in re-opening the main supply route in Afghanistan which was sabotaged by Taliban fighters.

Soldiers from the reconstruction taskforce rebuilt two bridges along the highway linking Kabul and Kandahar.

Defence says a combat team fought a Taliban attack, extreme heat and sandstorms to complete the restoration in half the time expected.

Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Yeaman says it was a significant operation.

"The Taliban had sabotaged a number of key bridges along the road between Kabul and Kandahan - our job was to come out of our province to rebuild those bridges and to move back safely," he said.

"Our role as the reconstruction taskforce combines two components: a security component and an engineering component. We were one of the few organisations available to ISAF who could put those two components together."

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