Editorial: NZ should back Obama in Afghanistan

Opinion

Prime Minister John Key was following a well-worn path when he paid his secret visit to the troops in Afghanistan over the weekend.

For some years such visits have been fixtures on the calendars of Western leaders.

Two US presidents, two British prime ministers and Mr Key's predecessor, Helen Clark, have all been there before him.

The public relations value of a leader - kitted out in body armour - being filmed and photographed on location with the men and women doing some of the toughest and riskiest jobs in the world is inestimable.

Certainly it will not have done Mr Key's man-of-the-people image any harm as he basked in the reflected glory of praise for the work being done by the 70 members of the SAS and the 140 troops with the New Zealand Army Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan province.

He was left in no doubt about how much the contribution of the New Zealanders was appreciated. "They have played a hugely successful and a tremendous role here. Everywhere we go ... they have been complimented on what they do," he said.

No compliment was more apt than the one that came from the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal: "The forces that New Zealand provides are extraordinarily professional, as you know, and they are key members of the coalition."

He had special praise for the work done in Bamiyan, which he said needed to be reproduced around the country.

"That's really where we are building the foundation of Afghanistan."

No doubt such compliments are sincere, but they come with a significant fish hook.

General McChrystal made no bones about the fact that he would like the New Zealanders to stay on and not just because they are doing good work.

To maintain the credibility of the exercise it is important to maintain the number of 46 nations providing troops to the 100,000-strong coalition force.

General McChrystal, it would seem, is anxious that the coalition, dominated by the United States, does not begin to take on the appearance of an occupying force.

As things stand, the SAS is due to leave Kabul in March next year and the PRT ends its present rotation in September. When Mr Key announced that he was sending the SAS back to Afghanistan last year - for the first time since 2005 - he set an 18-month deadline for the deployment.

The big worry was that he might have been committing troops to a Vietnam-type quagmire.

Mr Key's caution was understandable but there were good reasons for arguing that he was being too pessimistic.

A more realistic assessment of the new strategy of the Obama Administration - of protection, reconstruction and economic development - suggests it will take more time. And that is what the coalition now wants from New Zealand.

Although General McChrystal said it was not his place to directly request an extension from a national leader, the hint was very clear and it seems to have been taken.

Before he left Afghanistan, Mr Key was giving some pretty broad hints himself. The PRT was likely to stay for another year, he said.

He was less forthcoming about the SAS but said that its role would also be looked at, with the possibility of a smaller contingent staying for longer. Indeed, he said this was the preference of the SAS itself.

It would be no bad thing if its wish was granted. Of course no one would want to see us bogged down. But the Obama strategy needs to be given a chance to work and New Zealand should stay with it for the long haul.