Mapp to weigh Nato need for SAS troops

Any New Zealand decision to send the SAS back to Afghanistan will come a step closer today when Defence Minister Wayne Mapp assesses the new strategy to fight the Taleban at a top-level meeting in Brussels.

Dr Mapp told the Herald he would emphasise the need for New Zealand to see an exit strategy at the meeting of Nato defence ministers.

Dr Mapp is attending the meeting because New Zealand is part of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

He said "defining success and being able to leave" was the first question before further contributions such as the SAS were made. Making sure there was enough capability in our region was the other criterion, he said.

The Herald understands the SAS could deploy troops in Afghanistan and still respond readily to unexpected events in this region.

Dr Mapp would not comment on this, except to say that the decision for the SAS to return was ultimately a political one that would be made by the Cabinet.

"The Defence Force would never offer anything that didn't ensure we were also covered [in our region]." New Zealand's current contribution is a 140-strong provincial reconstruction team in Bamyan province which the Government recently committed for another year through to September 2010.

Dr Mapp said including the missions in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Sinai, the Army had 400 troops deployed and was near its maximum.

The SAS is free however, and the United States has made it clear through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it wants them back.

The United States has been looking for more help in Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered an extra 17,000 troops there in his first military decision in February.

Dr Mapp said stability in Afghanistan was "in New Zealand's interest" so that it ceased to be a terrorist haven. Terrorist attacks were not a "theoretical construct" for New Zealanders because of the September 11 attacks and the Bali and London bombings.

A decision on whether to send the SAS is part of the review of New Zealand's contribution to Afghanistan being conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, due back by August.