Australia's Diggers confident of a smooth handover to Afghan army PM Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have paid a visit to Australian troops in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. An Australian trooper shakes the hand of an ANA soldier at Camp Hero near Kandahar airfield. AUSTRALIA'S Diggers are cautiously confident they have done everything possible to ensure the local security force can protect its homeland. Speaking candidly after Prime Minister Tony Abbott's surprise visit to Afghanistan, Australian soldiers are putting the final touches on the Afghan Army they have crafted for eight years. Australian forces will leave Camp Holland at Tarin Kowt for good in the next few weeks. Prime Minister Tony Abbott breezed in and out on Monday for a five-hour "thank you" call with Opposition leader Bill Shorten. Avoiding the "mission accomplished" rhetoric of former US President George W Bush, Mr Abbott said Australia's mission was ending "not with victory, not with defeat, but with, we hope, an Afghanistan that is better for our presence here." "There is education and there is health ... for everyone including the women of Oruzgan Province," he said. You have done good work. Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten and Prime Minister Tony Abbott lay wreaths as a mark of respect to the fallen during the Recognition Ceremony at Tarin Kowt. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: Supplied Hope, along with 40 dead soldiers and 260 seriously wounded, will be the lasting legacy of Australia's $7 billion military adventure in Afghanistan. And beyond the facade of well crafted messages there is hope that the Afghan security forces will be able to keep the Taliban at bay in this dirt poor province. After years of intensive training, ANA soldiers now have the skills to defeat the insurgents. Apart from the mentors, most of the diggers in the final rotation have had little interaction with Afghan troops or any Afghans. Their days are spent dismantling the main base or killing time pumping iron in the gym. For the troops who spent their tour patrolling alongside ANA soldiers, risking their necks in the bomb littered green zones, the outcome is adequate. We are never going to end up with a fully professionally trained force. We are going to get what we get," one soldier said. At Company and Brigade level they get counterinsurgency better than we do. For soldiers such as Lieutenant Colonel Paul Duncan, who mentors the Afghan officers running the Operational Coordination Centre - Provincial (OCCP), the key inter-agency security organisation in the province, the important work goes on and in his view local commanders now have the tools to decide their own future. "Whether or not they succeed is up to them," he said. Preparing to make the short walk across "no man's land" from the rapidly shrinking Australian base through a series of security gates to the rapidly expanding Afghan National Army's 4 Brigade base next door, Colonel Duncan and his seven man team are confident that the OCCP has the leadership and the skills for success. They see the importance of what they do. We have given them the ability but we can't guarantee success. ANA Lieutenant Colonel Muhamad Zamar. Acting deputy commander of the OCCP, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Zamar, said about 70 per cent of the previous Taliban strength in Oruzgan had been eliminated. That means an insurgent force of between 900 and 1100 province wide. Twelve years ago 70 per cent of the 700,000 population was regarded as Taliban. Like most senior Afghan officers he is confident that his troops can keep the Taliban at bay but in a province with 6800 villages scattered around hundreds of isolated valleys, the task won't be easy. "Security is now in the hands of the ANSF and all areas are secure," Colonel Zamar said. Like all ANA commanders his wish list is long. In his case heavy weapons are the key requirement. Others warn of a logistics crisis and they lament the loss of air support, but for Colonel Zamar it is artillery. If the coalition would provide us with heavy weapons then you would see how we could defend our country,' he said. The conversation quickly moves from the Taliban to what many Afghans see as the real enemy - Pakistan. He explains that the Taliban is a problem for the world but the real problem for Afghanistan is their nuclear armed neighbour. "Pakistan used heavy weapons against our country and we had nothing to respond with," Colonel Zamar said. Australia established an artillery training school in Kabul but without the weapons to fire, the ANA is powerless to respond. Give us heavy weapons and see how we can defend our country.