The National Government has made a big decision in sending our SAS troops back to Afghanistan for the first time in four years.
Sending New Zealanders to war is a big step for any government no matter what the circumstances. Leaders of the day must believe that it is the right thing, not just in the moral sense. It is about putting the lives of our people at risk. There needs to be a strong reason to do that and it is not a decision that any government should take lightly.
In determining to make a deployment, the cause must be considered carefully, the options that one have, what positive difference a deployment by New Zealand can make and whether the benefits that can be gained outweigh the costs which may be incurred.
In Iraq, the fifth Labour Government withstood pressure from others and made the decision, which history proved right, not to send combat forces. National, in Opposition, took a different stance.
But is sending the SAS the most effective contribution we can make for ourselves as a nation or for Afghanistan? And given that we cannot remain in Afghanistan indefinitely, will deploying the SAS again get us any closer to our exit strategy?
New Zealand has already made a sizeable contribution given our size, our distance from the region and the fact we do not belong to NATO. Our largest contribution has been in the province of Bamyan, where we have around 140 New Zealand service personnel in a peacekeeping role. It has been an effective presence, contributing to stability and security as well as working on development projects.
We have worked closely with the local people, who have welcomed and supported our role in their region.
International experience in Afghanistan has shown that military force alone will not achieve our objectives – a stable Afghanistan. Development and good governance are also essential for stability.
Development is essential to win the support of local people. Afghan people have traditionally united against outsiders regardless of internal conflicts, but if they can see that the presence of international forces is improving their lives, they will support our efforts.
Good governance by the Afghan authorities is also essential because if the Afghan government is marred by corruption and ineffectiveness it will not secure the support of its own people and utterly undermine international efforts.
In Government, Labour became concerned that attempts to crush insurgency involving innocent civilian casualties was counterproductive to winning the battle for the hearts and minds of people in Afghanistan.
Labour's view, in the absence of Government presenting evidence to the contrary, is that our efforts should continue to be centred on the Provincial Reconstruction Team, which has proved to be effective in winning local support and promoting development.
New Zealand and the international community need urgent focus on an exit strategy, because our presence in Afghanistan cannot be indefinite.
As the conflict evolved and expanded in Afghanistan, it became much more a domestic and factionally-based conflict within that country.
The lack of success of interventions from outside Afghanistan to establish centralized control of the country is legend, as past British and Russian attempts have demonstrated.
While we rightly deplore the excesses and the fundamentalism of the past Taleban regime, it is also a mistake to believe that the conflict in Afghanistan is simply one between good and evil.
For more than three decades the country has been blighted by conflict. And after seven years of the US-led invasion, the defeat of the Taleban looks further away than ever, as fighting extends to areas where the Taleban were ot previously active.
Seventy-five US and NATO troops died in Afghanistan in July, the deadliest month in the war since 2001. More than 1,000 Afghan civilians have died this year, up 24% from 2008.
Questions are being asked whether military force and a surge in troop numbers will contain or end the conflict in Afghanistan.
A further 17,000 US troops are to be sent to Afghanistan, adding to the 90,000 US and ISAF troops already there. A further 70 New Zealand SAS troops, probably only half of them badged, are unlikely to make a difference to the outcome. It is hard to see real benefit from sending them.
The risks on the other hand are intensifying.
Prime Minister John Key has given no good reason for why the SAS should be preferred as a contribution over the PRT. The assumption must be that the reason for the decision is because the Americans have requested it.
Labour Party does not support the action of the National Government to send SAS troops to Afghanistan now.
Dr Ashraf Choudhary MP
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