In a speech to parliament on Monday outlining the reasons why Australia joined the conflict, the Nationals leader said the threat of terrorism was the motivating factor in taking on the Taliban.

He said from Alexander the Great in 330 BC to the engagement by the Soviet forces in 1979 through to 2001 that Afghanistan had been “a moth to the flame of nefarious and evil purposes”.

“The first question that has to be is, ‘Why did we get involved?’ We got involved because of the fact that a terrorist organisation drove two planes into the World Trade Center,” he said.

“We got involved because a terrorist organisation drove a plane into the Pentagon.”

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But the Deputy PM then turned the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, among them 88 Australians, in October 2002.

“We got involved because of the actions of terrorists at the Sari nightclub,” Mr Joyce told parliament. “The Sari nightclub where 88 Australians were murdered.”

US forces invaded Afghanistan in October, 2001, after terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center. Afghanistan subsequently refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, who was believed to be hiding in the country.

The Bali bombings took place in October, 2002, almost a year to the day after the invasion of Afghanistan.

Mr Joyce also referenced The Marriott bombing that occurred in August, 2003, almost three years after coalition forces invaded Afghanistan.

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“We got involved because of the bombings at the embassy in Jakarta,” he said.

“We got involved because of the bombings at the Marriott Hotel. We got involved because of the 56 lives that were lost in the buses in London and a terrorist attack there. We got involved because of the bombings in African embassies, in Tanzania and Kenya. And our troops sought out and closed with the enemy in Afghanistan so we did not have to engage with them in Sydney, or in Melbourne, or in Adelaide.”

Contacted by news.com.au, Mr Joyce said he was well aware of the timeline but he was making a general point about extremist groups’ links to Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism.

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was imprisoned in 2011 for supporting an extremist training camp as the spiritual leader of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network.

His disciples were accused of plotting several big attacks in Indonesia that involved operatives trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the southern Philippines.

Bashir, who has always denied any involvement in the Bali bombings, was released from jail this year.

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