Key support for longer troop tour criticised

Prime Minister John Key was yesterday criticised for saying he would consider extending the deployment of New Zealand soldiers to Afghanistan.

On a trip to Kabul on Monday, Mr Key said he was considering retaining the SAS presence in the country beyond its planned recall next March. There are now 70 SAS soldiers based in the capital.

Yesterday, the AP news agency quoted Mr Key as saying the Defence Force's 140-strong provincial reconstruction team in Bamiyan would roll over for a year beyond their expected recall in September.

They will then be gradually replaced by a civilian team.

The comments were made after the Prime Minister's meeting with the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, United States General Stanley McChrystal, in the Afghan capital.

Labour Party leader Phil Goff yesterday criticised Mr Key's comments.

"I think he's had a discussion with senior generals, they have made the suggestion and he has said, 'Yes, we'll go along with that'," Mr Goff said.

"I think that's wrong. New Zealand has to make its own decisions in these matters, we shouldn't allow others to tell us what we, as a country, should be doing."

Labour was against the SAS being in Kabul as it did not think it appropriate to risk lives for a "corrupt regime that doesn't win the support of its own people".

"The underlying situation in Afghanistan is more akin to a civil war, involving warlords and complex tribal structures," he said.

Mr Goff, however, supported the continuation of the reconstruction team's efforts for as long as they were needed.

Senior ministers were yesterday reluctant to comment on whether the deployment would be prolonged until they had heard Mr Key's report on his trip.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said: "The Prime Minister's visit gives us a chance to look at what the future requirements are."

Meanwhile, Mr Key said that SAS troops broke a terror cell and seized a quarter of a tonne of explosives in a recent operation in Kabul.

Mr Key said the unit had recently had a big success uncovering a massive cache of weapons in Kabul, including missiles and hand grenades.

"In the course of the discussions with the SAS it's been possible to get an understanding of what they are doing and the kind of operations that they've been undertaking ...

"What is absolutely the case in talking to the SAS is they have been doing some tremendous work.

"They were recently involved in a mission which saw them basically break and destroy a major insurgent effort, they recovered one of the largest caches that we've seen recovered here in downtown Kabul ... it was a tremendous cache."

- NZPA, AP