NZ earns 'tremendous respect' for Afghan help, says US envoy

Dave Keegan told TVNZ's Q&A there was tremendous international respect for New Zealand's efforts in Afghanistan. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand's Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan are so good at running a provincial reconstruction team that it is used as a model for others, United States Acting Ambassador Dave Keegan says.

About 140 Defence Force members have been operating the PRT in Bamyan province since 2003 and Dr Keegan said there was tremendous international respect for New Zealand's efforts.

"Its PRT is a model. Nato routinely invites people to go and look at what New Zealand is doing and try to imitate that elsewhere," he said yesterday on TV One's Q&A programme.

"The SAS contribution in their previous deployments again attracted considerable praise and we've made that clear, as others have."

Prime Minister John Key announced last week that SAS troops were again being sent to Afghanistan. About 70 of the elite troops will be there for 18 months in three rotations.

Mr Key also said the PRT would gradually be drawn down, a decision which has been criticised by the Labour Party.

Asked why crack troops were needed, Dr Keegan said New Zealand was part of a multilateral effort to provide security and give Afghan people a chance to rebuild their society.

"They're not doing any work for the US in Afghanistan, they're working for New Zealand in Afghanistan and for the international effort to fight terrorism," he said.

"New Zealand's SAS brings a capability to stop the terrorists from taking the kind of actions that have been disrupting Afghanistan."

- NZPA