Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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3. To ask the Minister for Defence whether he will acknowledge the serious mistake and breach of our neutrality by successive Governments in sending Irish troops to Afghanistan, making us complicit in war crimes and torture; the reason that mistake is now being compounded by the continued presence of Irish troops since the ending of the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, mission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1318/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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As Ireland is a neutral country, I do not believe our Defence Forces personnel should ever have had any involvement with the occupation forces in Afghanistan. None the less, given the ending of the ISAF mission before Christmas, it is regrettable that the Minister did not use that opportunity to withdraw the seven Defence Forces personnel but instead chose to have them remain as part of the Resolute Support Mission, RSM. Could the Minister comment in that regard? Will he provide an opportunity for the House to discuss the matter, and what is his analysis of the success or otherwise of the involvement of Defence Forces personnel in the area?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Daly for her question. The deployment of Defence Forces personnel to the UN-mandated, NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2014 had no implications for Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality.  The service of Defence Forces personnel with ISAF represented a further example of Ireland’s commitment to participation in UN-mandated peace operations, a long-standing and key foreign policy principle for Ireland. The work carried out by Irish personnel deployed with ISAF represented a relatively small but important contribution to the mission.

On 9 December 2014, the Government approved the participation of seven members of the Defence Forces with the follow-on Resolute Support Mission, RSM, in Afghanistan, which commenced on 1 January 2015. RSM is a non-combat training mission designed to support and develop the capacity of the Afghan national defence forces in order that they can ensure the security of the Afghan population and its national government institutions following the withdrawal of the ISAF mission.

The deployment of members of the Defence Forces in a training role is consistent with the provisions of section 3(1)(b) and 3(1)(d) of the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006. The United Nations Security Council has welcomed the establishment of the Resolute Support Mission and has also welcomed Ireland's willingness to be part of it. We are one of many countries that are part of this mission. Ireland, along with its partners, is doing everything it can to ensure that a new government in Afghanistan can try to create stability and normality in a country that has been torn apart by war for many years. I am happy that we are trying to play a constructive training role in that effort.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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I am afraid that is not good enough. First, the United Nations' supposed cover for the operation masks the fact that the exercise was a NATO-led one. The UN Security Council resolution justified the decision, but the United Nations broke its own rules by approving the occupation by the US-led coalition and its activities.

The Minister said he wants Irish troops to be part of the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Let us look at what has happened in that country. The intervention was supposedly to overthrow al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but they are now stronger than ever. In fact, many of their members have now defected to ISIS. Subsequent to that, we were told the purpose of the intervention was to eradicate poppy growing and even, ridiculously, to deliver women's rights. We have since had a bumper crop of poppies, and women's rights are further back than they were in the 1980s. More than $100 billion has been spent in the area, which is one of the poorest, most backward, most corruption-ridden and most dangerous places to live. Therefore, the mission of which we were a part has not been much of a success.

Does the Minister not agree that it has been well documented and established that hundreds of prisoners were imprisoned under extreme conditions by US-led forces in Afghanistan at the same time as Irish troops were present in Kabul? Many of the prisoners were tortured and some of them died as a result. Does that not make us complicit in that activity? Is it not the case that by leaving our troops there when many other foreign troops have been withdrawn, the Minister is making them much more vulnerable to attack and insecure in their current positions?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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If one were to follow through on the logic of the Deputy's argument, the international community would simply pull out of Afghanistan. In my view, if that were to happen, the country would implode and would be taken over once again by tribal leaders, some of them fundamentalist in their thinking, and that is not what the international community would like to see happen. Therefore, we are doing what we can, in a new environment, to try to support the maintenance of stability and the building of some kind of normalisation in a country that has not seen that for very many years.

I draw the Deputy's attention to our partners, including many other neutral countries such as Austria and Sweden. Our European partners include Finland, Germany, Italy and Montenegro, and our other partner countries include New Zealand, Australia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Macedonia. This is a collective effort, with approximately 12,000 personnel staying on as part of the follow-on mission, ISAF, which previously had many more personnel. With regard to Ireland's role, what we bring to those efforts in terms of training and knowledge will be a positive contribution to what is, essentially, a peace and stability mission.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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I would say it is a war mission. As the Minister said, it is true that the country has not seen normalisation for decades, but the roots of that situation lie in interference, including the overthrow of the government in the 1980s and the incitement and encouragement of jihadist forces by the United States even at that time. The Minister argues that Afghanistan might implode if the troops were to pull out, but I remind him that Afghanistan has imploded. The tribal leaders whom the Minister said would emerge to the top have done so and are doing very nicely out of the present conflict. It is the ordinary people who are suffering, without any protection whatsoever from the Western forces. In fact, the very presence of Western forces has given encouragement to those tribal gangs in the first place. I think it would be better if we pulled out. The fact that other countries are present does not give any cover or legitimacy to our concerns there. We are supposed to be a neutral country in our own right, dictated by peacekeeping missions. Everybody knows that the only reason there was interference in Afghanistan in the first place was not democracy or furthering the interests of people but, rather, the very rich and lucrative gas and petroleum supplies that lie in the Caspian Sea. It is a resource issue.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I think, with respect, that is a revision of history on the part of the Deputy. The reason there was a military campaign in Afghanistan was that terrorists were being trained there.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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Was it very successful?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That triggered a whole series of events that have taken place since. Rather than just pointing out mistakes, we all have an obligation to make an effort to contribute in a constructive and positive way to helping countries that are in real difficulty to achieve stable government and, as a result, some level of normalisation for their populations. This is the reason I have sanctioned Ireland's participation in this follow-on mission. I believe we can play a part because of our experience in post-conflict peacekeeping missions. We have seven personnel in place - this contribution is not large in numbers, but in my view it is worth maintaining. So long as I can see a positive role for the international community in a state which is trying to re-establish itself, then we will maintain a presence there.