More than 70 New Zealand troops sent to Afghanistan (Roundup)

Sep 21, 2009, 5:44 GMT

   Wellington - New Zealand has sent 71 troops from its Special Air Services to join the NATO war effort in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key said Monday.

   He said New Zealand was supporting the administration of President Hamid Karzai to try to stabilize Afghanistan despite doubts about the lead Karzai holds in preliminary results from August's presidential election after charges of election fraud.

   'I read the papers like everyone else but I have not received any official advice that can corroborate any of the stories I have seen written in the papers,' he said about the electoral controversy.

   Describing the country as an 'historical hotbed of terrorism,' Kay said, 'The aim here is to try and stabilise Afghanistan.

   'I think the alternative is that we are left with a country where control is ceded to the Taliban, where in all probability more terrorist activities will be planned and schemes will be hatched and I don't believe that's in the world's best interests.'

   Key said the New Zealand troops would be deployed for 12 to 18 months. He refused to specify what their mission was but said the special forces soldiers would not be allowed to extend their operations into Pakistan.

   It is the fourth time New Zealand has sent its elite SAS forces to Afghanistan since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

   The previous Labour government, which Key's conservative National Party ousted at November's election, dispatched SAS troops three times, ending their last stint in 2005.

   The Labour Party now says circumstances have changed and the troops would be fighting for a corrupt government.

   Another group of about 130 New Zealand troops is working in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan province on civilian reconstruction projects.

   Key made the announcement days after the latest troops arrived in Afghanistan and shortly before he was scheduled to leave for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and to possibly have an informal meeting with US President Barack Obama.