The Government is now claiming New Zealand troops can not leave Afghanistan before April 2013, even if they wanted to. "The problem is we can't get out sooner, that's the whole point," admitted Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman on Morning Report yesterday. He said it was a "big logistical operation" and that "once the winter starts we can't pull out ... it takes months to pull out."
As for the decision to bring the departure date forward to April when the Government had previously been talking of later in the year, that too was purely logistics, and has nothing to do with the death of five soldiers in two weeks.
It's all about fitting in with the Japanese timetable for rebuilding Bamiyan airport. Dr Coleman said that was planned to begin in April and once completed, "the airstrip there won't be able to take the size of the aircraft needed - it won't be able to take the [NZ] Hercules once it's been rebuilt, we've got to get in and out before the reconstruction starts."
So, on the one hand, we're being told accelerating our troops' departure from Afghanistan to save them from further attacks from the roaming Taleban guerrillas would be to disrespect the 10 New Zealand personnel who have been killed in the conflict, but to speed up our departure to accommodate the rebuilding of the airport is all right.
Tell that to the next group of bereaved families and see what they say. As Labour leader David Shearer argues, "the fight is now becoming more of a civil war between the Taleban and the Karzai Administration". He echoes the words of his predecessor, and Labour's Defence spokesman, Phil Goff, who just before the latest deaths, said that success in Afghanistan relied on the local administration capturing the hearts and minds of its people. He told a weekend newspaper the "deeply corrupt" Karzai Government had failed. "It is involved in drug trafficking, supports war lords and hasn't got the support of the people. Why are our guys dying to defend an administration of that nature?"