A company (about 100 troops) of  the newly trained Afghan army is being sent to the Pakistani border to help allied troops in operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces. The four battalions of the Afghan army have only received ten weeks of formal training, and now require a year or two of regular operations to achieve a professional and reliable attitude. A fourth battalion of the new Afghan army recently completed it's training, but that amounts to only about 1500 trained troops. The majority of the recruits do not complete their training.

The government has warned Australia that some of the "Afghan" refugees that have been entering Australia illegally have forged identity documents and may be al Qaeda members seeking a new base for terrorist activities.