Afghan warlord Matiullah Khan. Australia's growing relationship with warlords was discussed at a meeting between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul this month, according to information obtained by The Age. An official record of the meeting says President Karzai told Ms Gillard that local tribal leaders had praised Australia's co-operation with ''warlordy types''. The visiting militia group met Australian officers with whom they will work this summer, and were shown combat training displays at the Cultana base in South Australia and at a Sydney special forces barracks. A government official said the visit showed the ''diabolical difficulty'' of policy in Afghanistan. The militia is the province's most effective and well-informed fighting force, but moving closer to it risks undermining Afghan government institutions that need to be reinforced before Australia's troops can leave.

One Australian special forces officer said the militia was respected and had ''saved many Australian [soldiers'] lives''. Speaking from Kabul, Afghanistan analyst Martine van Bijlert said: ''We're shaping [Afghanistan] to our short-term needs, rather than what the country needs in the long term. Does the country really need commanders with what are in essence private armies?'' The Dutch refused to work with Matiullah on reconstruction and other projects and blocked his appointment as a police chief. He holds no formal government position, but is closely allied with President Karzai and is considered the most powerful man in Oruzgan, where Australian forces are based. Matiullah denies allegations of involvement in corruption and human rights abuses. He makes millions of dollars each month charging the US and Australia to protect their military supply convoys on the road he controls from Oruzgan's capital, Tarin Kowt, to Kandahar. There are claims he also profits from the drug trade.

ADF head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston was at the Kabul meeting on October 2 and was recorded telling President Karzai that the partnership between Australian special forces and Matiullah's militia was ''a proud one''. Air Chief Marshal Houston also said at the meeting that when Australian troops were first deployed to Oruzgan, they did not understand the region's complex ''tribal dynamics'' but they now had a more ''enlightened'' view. The militia wears the ''Provincial Response Company'' uniform of the Afghan police but answers to Matiullah. ''They fight for their own group, they fight for very different reasons than, for instance, the Afghan Army,'' said Ms van Bijlert. Loading The militia's visit, came after negotiations between the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence. Agreements were made on travel documents and warnings were given to the government that, as a source said, ''issues could arise'' if the Afghans claimed asylum in Australia. When asked about the allegations against Matiullah, a Defence spokesman said: ''It is important the ADF works within the cultural norms of Afghanistan. Therefore in some areas where influential local Afghan leaders still operate, their co-operation can be crucial to maintaining security and stability.''