A New Zealand defence force team will stay in Afghanistan for an extra year to help with security and reconstruction, Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Tuesday. The deployment of the 120-strong provincial reconstruction team in the central province of Bamiyan has been extended for a further 12 months until September 2006.
Parliamentary and provincial elections in Afghanistan scheduled for April 2005 meant it was important that the international community maintained its involvement, Clark said in a statement. "Failure to stabilise Afghanistan would have consequences for the campaign against terrorism," she said. "The Taliban and elements sympathetic to Al Qaeda continue to provide resistance to the Afghan authorities and to the multinational force mandated by the United Nations," she said. New Zealand, which has been working in Bamiyan since 2003, will also send two police officers to help rebuild the local police force.
| I'm actually surprised... |
| Afghanistan is a touch-stone for the more reasonable left-liberals. They can condemn us for Iraq but by supporting (in a small way) the work in Afghanistan, they can lay claim to some of the heavy lifting being done in the WoT. Perhaps people like Clark also think that this will give them a chit for future use. Whatever, I'm pleased the Kiwis are helping. |
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