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Diggers' exit fuels insurgents

Australian and Afghan National Army vehicles in Oruzgan province. Picture: Dept of Defence.

The province Australian troops were responsible for in Afghanistan is feared to be slipping into Taliban hands, with claims insurgents have overrun areas where Diggers fought some of their most costly battles.

In March, the local strongman and police chief once allied to Australia was assassinated.

But there are new reports the deputy police chief was also killed in a targeted hit last month, effectively leaving the area in turmoil. Australian troops pulled out of the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan in 2013, handing the area over to Afghan troops trained by Australian and NATO forces.

Oruzgan was the centre of the Australian mission to Afghanistan, and successive Australian governments spent billions of dollars maintaining a base there over almost eight years.

Forty-one Australian soldiers died on operations in Afghanistan, with most of those deaths in Oruzgan.

Afghanistan media said yesterday the Taliban had captured at least 50 Afghan security-force posts in Oruzgan over the past few days.

A member of the Afghan parliament was claimed to have warned another 10 army or police posts were under siege in Oruzgan, while many Afghan police and soldiers had joined the Taliban.

One of the main areas where fighting was said to be taking place was Deh Rawud in the west of Oruzgan, where Australian troops had some of their toughest clashes.

Although local media reports are difficult to verify, an Afghan source confirmed to _The Weekend West _the Taliban were making a concerted push in Oruzgan, as part of their spring offensive.

There was an admission that the Afghan Government had been slow to appoint a new governor to the province and the Taliban were exploiting the lack of leadership.

But it was claimed Afghan troops were fighting back and the Government was organising to push the Taliban back out. Despite the increasing reports of attacks in Oruzgan, the Australian Defence Department said it was aware of media reporting about security conditions but the Afghan Government had the ultimate responsibility for security, national progress and reform, including appointing officials.

Oruzgan police chief Matiullah Khan, killed by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital Kabul, was used by the Australians to keep order in the province.

His death upset the local power structure and is thought to have opened the door to infighting between local tribes.