Smith talks troop numbers with US

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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte are in Canberra for the annual AUSMIN defence and foreign affairs discussions with Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and Mr Smith. We ve been very pleased to take part in the AUSMIN consultations today which have been very positive very productive Mr Smith told reporters in Canberr! a after the meeting today. Mr Smith said the talks reinforced the strong relationship between the United States and Australia. The AUSMIN talks that we ve had today have effectively been business as usual so far as the business of the alliance is concerned he said. The delegates had a wide ranging discussion about strategic issues both on a global and regional level he said. That included discussions about the Labor government s decision to withdraw a number of Australian troops from Iraq he said. Afghanistan also was discussed at length. We spoke about the difficult situation in Afghanistan and our long term enduring commitment to seek to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan but also to build Afghanistan as a nation Mr Smith said. The situation in Pakistan was also discussed. We very much hope that following a relatively peaceful election in Pakistan that the political parties in Afghanistan can now cooperatively form a government to enable democracy to take hold in Pakistan. But Australia s regional issues were not ignored he said. We ha! d a very good discussion about our own region about Asia and the Pacific and we underlined and reinforced the new Australian government s commitment to a greater engagement in the Asia Pacific he said. Mr Smith said the group committed to meet for next year s AUSMIN meeting in the US. He saidhe emphasised to his American counterpart the importance of US support in the local region. I also made this point which the Australian government believes very strongly that just as Australia s engagement in Asia and the Asia Pacific is important so is the engagement of the United States in our region he said. Robert Gates said the relationship between the two countries had not faltered with the new government in Australia. Our meetings today proved once again that our friendship endures across generations and across different administrations in both of our governments he told reporters after the meeting. The bonds of unity that grew from our common heritage and have been strengthened ! on battlefields around the world are every bit as strong as they have ever been. Mr Gates said the US appreciated Australia s leadership in the Asia Pacific region as well as on a global level. He said the two governments would continue to work together closely for years to come on a number of fronts including fighting terrorism and bringing stability back to Afghanistan. Above all it is clear that we agree on both the challenges we must face together and the solutions we must forge together he said. As has been the case for many years the United States has no better partner and no stronger ally than Australia. 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