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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000571 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2017 
TAGS: PREL MARR PARM AF IZ AS
SUBJECT: RUDD'S POLICY ADVISER ON IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND ASIA 
 
REF: CANBERRA 551 
 
Classified By: DCM Daniel A. Clune, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
 ¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: Ahead of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's 
April 19-21 trip to Washington and New York, his foreign 
policy adviser, Peter Khalil, told poloffs that Rudd was 
committed to a close relationship with the United States. 
While he would withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq if 
he becomes prime minister, Rudd recognizes the importance to 
the Middle East of supporting the Iraq government and would 
be prepared to provide other assistance such as training for 
Iraq security forces.  Khalil stressed that the other 
Australian forces in the Gulf would remain and any troop 
withdrawal would be coordinated with the Coalition.  If 
necessary the combat troops could even stay for another 
rotation but Rudd believes that Australia could be of greater 
value in Iraq in other ways.  Rudd fully supports Australia's 
efforts in Afghanistan and the recent increase in combat 
troops (see ref).  He agrees with the idea of greater 
engagement with India, and more security cooperation with 
Japan but prefers less formal engagement to explicit links 
such as an "ANZUS style" defense agreement with Japan or a 
U.S.-Japan-Australia-India security dialogue that could be 
construed as directed at another country.  Rudd favors 
nuclear cooperation with India, combined, however, with a 
strengthening of multilateral nuclear non-proliferation 
regimes.  In the Pacific, Rudd is fully cognizant of the 
threat posed by the Chinese and Taiwanese buying support 
throughout the region.  He would focus on engagement rather 
than threats or coercion as a more effective way to influence 
the island states' behavior.  END SUMMARY 
 
NO COMBAT TROOPS IN IRAQ 
 
¶2. (C/NF) In a lunch with poloffs on April 13, Australian 
Labor Party (ALP) leader Kevin Rudd's foreign policy adviser 
Peter Khalil repeated the ALP's policy on Iraq: if Kevin Rudd 
becomes prime minister after the federal elections later this 
year, he will withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq. 
Rudd was a strong supporter of the alliance relationship with 
the United States, Khalil stressed, and he would retain the 
rest of Australia's military commitment in the Gulf but not 
the combat troops.  Khalil, who worked for Paul Bremer and 
the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, said he 
understood better than most the challenges in Iraq.  The 
problem there is to help the moderate elements in the society 
find a political solution that could build national support 
and thereby exclude the Sunni and Shia extremists. To do 
this, the political actors in Iraq would need the Coalition's 
support, and an Australia under Kevin Rudd would help with 
that effort, but the tiny number of Australian combat troops 
in Iraq would make no difference. 
 
FULL AGREEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN -- AND IRAN 
 
¶3. (C/NF) Khalil reiterated Rudd's public comment (see ref) 
supporting Prime Minister John Howard's decision to return 
Australian special forces combat troops to Afghanistan.  Rudd 
believed the Taliban and al-Qaeda were regrouping and needed 
to be confronted.  In addition, the bombers who had killed 
over 80 Australians in Bali in 2002 had trained in 
Afghanistan.  A key issue in the region, Khalil maintained, 
was how to deal with Iran.  Rudd is under no illusions 
concerning Iran and its nuclear and regional ambitions and 
would likely support efforts at containment. 
 
MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY BUT NO ALLIANCES 
 
¶4. (C/NF) Rudd disapproved of Howard's security agreement 
with Japan, Khalil noted.  While Rudd agreed with most of the 
measures in the agreement, and had issued a statement to that 
effect a week before the Prime Minister's trip to Japan, he 
believed a formal security arrangement with Japan 
unnecessarily antagonized other countries in the region and 
was not needed, in any event, to strengthen security 
cooperation. Rudd did not favor the idea of an 
Australia-Japan-India-U.S. dialogue if it is perceived as 
excluding or being directed at other countries in the region. 
 Khalil understood and accepted that renewed nuclear-power 
cooperation with India was a necessary price to pay for a 
closer relationship.  Australia's uranium industry could in 
 
CANBERRA 00000571  002 OF 002 
 
 
fact benefit from renewed trade with India, he noted, but a 
Rudd government would encourage stronger enforcement of 
existing multilateral nuclear non-proliferation regimes. 
 
ENGAGEMENT IN THE PACIFIC 
 
¶5. (C/NF) Khalil said a Rudd foreign policy would be more 
inclined to engage with its neighbors in the Pacific to help 
find a mutually-agreeable solution to their problems, rather 
than attempt to bully them into cooperation.  Rudd would work 
closely with the United States to respond to any threat 
caused by the Chinese and Taiwanese buying influence in the 
region. 
 
COMMENT: NOT MARK LATHAM 
 
¶6. (C/NF) Rudd will travel to the United States April 18-21, 
with meetings in Washington and a speech to the Brookings 
Institute on the "Rise of China" on April 19.  He will have 
more meetings in New York April 20 with Australian 
businessmen before returning home.  As Rudd himself has noted 
on numerous occasions, he is a strong supporter of the 
Alliance and this meeting served to underscore that fact 
ahead of the trip.  The ALP leader for the last national 
parliamentary election in 2004, Mark Latham, had a much 
cooler attitude toward the Alliance and it cost him 
politically.  On foreign policy, Rudd is a conservative ALP 
politician in the mold of Kim Beazley and his U.S. policy 
likely genuinely reflects his views. 
 
MCCALLUM