Clark confirms SAS presence in Afghanistan

5.00 pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark today acknowledged that members of the New Zealand SAS were in Afghanistan.

She issued a statement after a White House website confirmed they were there.

Miss Clark has previously refused to say anything other than that SAS soldiers were offered to the United States to help in the war against terror and people should assume the offer would be accepted.

The statement said Miss Clark "formally acknowledged the presence of members of the SAS in Afghanistan" and quoted her as saying:

"The Government's reluctance to confirm the presence of members of the SAS in Afghanistan has been based on a desire to minimise the risk to those serving overseas and to their families left behind.

"The Government will continue to observe a policy of refusing comment on the specific location or mission of SAS members."

She said that as the SAS was working alongside the forces of other nations, news of their presence was already in the public arena.

After the website information was revealed earlier today, and before Miss Clark issued her statement, two political parties criticised her for keeping quiet.

The Green Party's foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the disclosure on the website was embarrassing for the Government.

"The prime minister has repeatedly refused to answer questions from myself and others about our SAS deployment and she has ignored calls to come clean and tell us if our troops are even there or not," he said.

"Many government members have histories of opposing military intervention and some may well be uncomfortable with this war. For these reasons there may have been some political embarrassment in confirming our SAS's presence in Afghanistan, but that's no excuse to keep Kiwis in the dark."

ACT leader Richard Prebble said Miss Clark's silence was absurd when the public was learning about the deployment from the White House website, German tabloid newspapers and statements in the Australian media.

The website lists military contributions by all countries involved in the Afghanistan war and was posted as part of US commemorations of this week's six-month anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

"As part of a combined operation, New Zealand's special operations forces units recovered valuable equipment and forwarded it for exploitation," the website says.

It lists New Zealand contributions as: posting officials at US Central Command in Florida; providing C130 Hercules aircraft to carry equipment and supplies for the war; providing a seven-person air loading team to help the British-led international peacekeeping effort; providing eight officers soon being posted to the peacekeeping headquarters; and providing special operations forces.

The National Party said Miss Clark's "feeble admission" was an embarrassment, particularly as she was due to meet President George W Bush in Washington later this month.

"The Australian government briefs the public about where its SAS troops are and generally what type of mission they are involved in after the event," the party's defence spokesman, Max Bradford, said.

"The least our prime minister could do is inform the New Zealand public of the tremendous work our troops are doing."

Mr Bradford said Miss Clark had been playing domestic politics because she didn't want to split the Government.

"The Alliance and the Greens are always opposed to our involvement in the war against terrorism," he said.

"It has reached a farcical level when she is forced to admit where our troops may have been because the White House is advising the world."

- NZPA