"We are supporting, but it's self-evidently dangerous and the roles can shift pretty quickly and easily, depending on the circumstances,'' Dr Mapp said.
However, when asked today, Mr Key denied the troops were in a combat role.
"No, look it's a mentoring role and, you know, I've taken the liberty of checking that at length with the head of the SAS.''
Meanwhile, Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke has called for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances of the raid.
"We are all mourning the death of Lance Corporal Smith, and it would be even more tragic if he died needlessly in a raid motivated by false intelligence,'' Mr Locke said.
"An independent journalist on the ground in Afghanistan claims the raid was the result of a family feud, and that the Governor of the province where the raid occurred - Wardak - is seeking answers.''
Mr Locke said raids based on false intelligence had been a feature of the war in Afghanistan, and it would be damaging for the country's reputation if New Zealand troops were involved in operations in which innocent Afghan civilians were killed.
Chief of Defence Force (CDF) Lieutenant General Rhys Jones said the operation was in response to information the compound was housing a suicide bomber planning an attack in the capital.
He dismissed the reports of a family feud as incorrect.
"Unless it was a humdinger of a family dispute, the time taken to compile the information to actually get the legal authority (search and arrest warrant), indicates that this was a measured and legal response, not a response to a neighbour giving information and a tipoff,'' he said.
"Although there may be some doubt about the quality of the Afghan legal process in rumours, the reality is that this has been mentored and has visibility by UN and by ISAF, ... the partner nations.''
No details were given about whether bomb-making material or suicide vests had been found at the compound.
Mr Key said he would get more information on those details in due course.
"But the advice I've had, at least the information I've seen from the CDF, is that he's confident that the raid was appropriate and it was mandated.''