Last Australian troops, apart from 400-strong group in training and support roles, have left Afghanistan, Tony Abbott announces

The last remaining Australian troops have exited Uruzgan province, leaving a group of 400 personnel to preside over ongoing training and support for Afghan soldiers and police.

At a press conference to mark the withdrawal of Australian forces, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, said on Monday that people could reflect with pride on Australia’s contribution to the conflict. “Uruzgan today is a very significantly different and better place than it was a decade ago,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Forty Australian soldiers were killed in the Afghanistan conflict, and more than 261 people have been seriously wounded.

The remaining Australian presence will be located in Kabul and Kandahar in administrative and training roles, and Australia will also provide ongoing funding of $100m per year.

Tony Abbott and the defence minister David Johnston suggested the Australian withdrawal was coming at the appropriate time given the progress that had been made by the Afghan National Army over the past fighting season.

Abbott also argued the conflict had been, on balance, worth it, despite the heavy losses. “We have seen the replacement of the Taliban, we have seen the driving out from their safe havens and bases al-Qaida and al-Qaida sympathisers,” he said.

The prime minister said the return of relative stability to Afghanistan had manifested positively in neighbouring Pakistan, and in the region. “There’s little doubt Pakistan is in a substantially better position than it was three or four years ago and our efforts in Afghanistan have been a material contributor to that.”

“We have helped to stabilise, pacify and improve Afghanistan,” Abbott said.

In the “totality”, progress had been made. “If you look at the benefits for our country, Afghanistan and the wider world then yes, it has been worth it – but not for a second would I under-estimate the price that has been paid by individuals and families, and the price that will continue to be paid.”

Johnston downplayed the views of some analysts that the drawdown of international forces in Afghanistan is coming too early to ensure the current relative stability is maintained into the future.

The Australian defence minister said the ANA had entered combat in recent times with very little supervision. “We are not leaving without being assured the government has a reliable force at its disposal,” the defence minister said on Monday.

Abbott said it was easy to be “defeatist” at the moment of a major milestone - such as the exit of Australian troops from Uruzgan province - but he said there wasn’t much evidence to justify pessimism.

“We can’t predict the future. We have no crystal ball,” Abbott said on Monday.

“It’s very easy to be defeatist at a time like this. I don’t think there’s all that much evidence to justify it. As the minister has just pointed out, the Afghan National Army has performed with distinction over the last fighting season. Certainly our soldiers are very happy with the progress of the Afghan brigade that they’ve been mentoring over the past few years,” he said.

The prime minister said the government would move quickly to either remove or ensure the safety of local contributors to the Australian war effort.

He was asked questions about the fate of Afghan interpreters after a weekend report revealed that an interpreter who worked for the Australian army in Afghanistan had been killed in a suspected Taliban revenge attack while waiting for promised resettlement in Australia.

Abbott said it was logistically complex to remove some people operating in remote areas, but he said action was under way. “We are determined to ensure everyone who has provided material support for our armed forces is looked after and provided with a guarantee of safety,” Abbott said.

“The operating principle of the Australian army is no one is left behind. We are getting them out as quickly as we can.”

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, who travelled with Abbott to the Australian military base at Tarin Kowt recently, said the Australian Defence Force should be proud of its contribution to the conflict. “Australia’s military forces have done an outstanding job,” Shorten told reporters in Perth.