Editorial: Joining hunt for the face of terrorism

The announcement that New Zealand SAS units are returning to frontline service in Afghanistan is to be applauded on several counts. Principally, it underlines signs in recent weeks that the "war on terror" has come back into proper international focus after the distractions of Iraq. After December 2001, when the arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden slipped the net, the round-up of al Qaeda proceeded fitfully at best.

Occasionally a high-ranking operative was caught, but the main quarry, the figurehead and financier, continued to elude whatever forces the United States and its allies could spare from the fullscale invasion of Iraq.

New Zealand, with others such as Germany who refused to join that unsanctioned invasion, remained in Afghanistan helping to police the pacified regions. But little seemed to be happening in the mountains of the southeast and the adjacent areas of Pakistan where tribesmen were a law unto themselves and where Taleban and al Qaeda leaders could find refuge.

Since January, the reported sightings of bin Laden in the region have given US forces a clearer idea of his movements and Pakistan has put more forces into the border areas. If he can be denied sanctuary at last and driven back into Afghanistan, there is a good chance he will be caught by the US special forces now preparing to meet him.

The New Zealanders may be headed for a support role in that operation. The Prime Minister would say only that up to 50 SAS soldiers would be sent there on a six-month assignment from April 1. She noted: "Their specialty is in reconnaissance, surveillance and tracking." That does not tell us very much but it is a welcome improvement on 2001 when this country was told next to nothing about the military action undertaken in its name.

The disclosure this time of the number involved and the timing of the mission is another reason to applaud the announcement. The strict secrecy given our SAS activities became ludicrous last time after soldiers and politicians of other countries freely alluded to the New Zealanders operating with them. "Don't expect daily or weekly reports," Helen Clark says now. She might find once again that others make those reports for us.

The kind of combat for which special forces are trained requires a high degree of secrecy. Essentially they infiltrate enemy-held areas to observe troop movements and find targets for aircraft to attack with the precision of modern bombs and missiles. But it is hardly any secret to the enemy that Western armies now fight this way, and since it is likely to be the main mode of combat involving New Zealand's forces, the country needs to be properly informed.

The renewed Afghanistan engagement is to be welcomed also for the fact that this country will be back where it belongs, side by side with the United States and Australia in a just and necessary military campaign. If that helps repair New Zealand's stocks in Washington, well and good. But this country was right to absent itself from the Iraq folly and it is doing the right thing again now.

Among the unfortunate consequences of Iraq was not only the distraction from the true source of terrorism but a loss of the moral high ground that the US occupied after September 11. When the US and its allies went into Afghanistan weeks after the attacks on Washington and New York, it was to almost universal approval. Now the US occupies a slice of the Islamic heartland, which only fuels Arab resentment.

The capture of bin Laden would be a much-needed feather in the cap of President Bush as he seeks re-election but it would be a far greater bonus for Western security. Terrorism may be a many-headed monster but one head stands taller than the rest. Since September 11, 2001, he has become the face of militant Islam, pin-up hero of the Arab "street". His capture would be equally powerful and equally symbolic. Bring it on.