Former prime John Howard stands by his decision to send Australian troops into Afghanistan but does have some criticism over the way international forces have been withdrawn 20 years later.
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Australia is now trying to evacuate hundreds of Australian citizens, former interpreters and embassy guards from Afghanistan in chaotic scenes in Kabul.
Mr Howard says the original commitment into Afghanistan was totally justified in the face of the terrorist threat from the Taliban.
He said the presence of international forces in the country did result in a lot more young people being educated and a lot more rights being enjoyed by women.
"We are concerned they might be whittled away by the Taliban and obviously that is in everybody's mind at the present moment," Mr Howard Sky News' Sunday Agenda program.
He also had some criticism over the way the US has handled the withdrawal form the country.
"I can understand that the American public has become war weary and both sides of politics had indicated that," Mr Howard said.
"I guess my criticism, my reservation about the way it has been handled is, was it absolutely essential to withdraw every last soldier by a given date?"
He doesn't believe that was necessary or that there was no reason a very much smaller force could not have been left there for an indeterminate time.
"That would have prevented some of the negative images that have clearly come out of Afghanistan and could well have emboldened the Afghan army, provided it had been supplemented by some air cover to have provide more resistance to the Taliban," he said.
Australian Associated Press
