Australia said Wednesday that it would send more troops to Afghanistan in order to combat the resurgent Taliban.

“Today I have announced an increase in our troop commitment from 1,100 to around 1,550,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters.

“Australia concurs with the United States that the current civilian and military strategy is not working,” he added. “If anything, security in Afghanistan is deteriorating.”

“To reduce the threat of terrorist attacks on Australian citizens in the future the Australian government has decided to increase our defence force commitment in Afghanistan,” Rudd concluded.

Most of us rightfully worry about the Taliban’s rise in Pakistan, but we should also pay attention to what is happening in Afghanstan – the Taliban’s home base. The situation is running out of hand there as well. The Taliban have made progress in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years.

Although Pakistan is certainly more important than Afghanistan because it is bigger and has nuclear weapons, we should not forget the main lesson of 9/11: letting an extremist group take over any country is extremely dangerous.

Kudos to Australia for sending more troops.