KEY POINTS:
The Ode to the Fallen and the Last Post were there, but the cenotaphs weren't for some New Zealand politicians remembering the fallen this Anzac Day.
Defence Minister Phil Goff welcomed the sunrise in Bamyan in Afghanistan, where 122 New Zealand defence force staff are stationed.
He said the 4.30am service was a moving occasion for the nearly 100 staff present and everyone felt a long way from home.
Though there were still regular bombings in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the situation was much calmer where the New Zealanders were, he said.
Close to 4000 people were killed in the troubled nation last year and several hundred, including about 30 Western troops, have died so far this year.
"There are signs of tangible social, political and economic progress in Kabul and Bamyan," Mr Goff said.
"And you could feel it from the reaction of the local people who welcome, rather than resent the presence of armed New Zealand soldiers in their town, and in their countryside.
"Memories of the Hazara people of the mass execution of their leaders by the Taleban in 2001, and the destruction of the 1500 year old Buddha statues -- part of their cultural heritage -- are still raw."
Mr Goff travelled from Kabul and discussions with President Hamid Karzai, Vice President Ahmad-Zia Massoud, Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel, Defence Minister General Abdul Raheem Wardak, as well as UN Special Representative Tom Koenigs and the Commander of the NATO-led forces, General Dan MacNeill.
Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton spent his Anzac Day at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Hodgaya, Japan.
The ceremony was carried out in front of the Australian Cross of Remembrance, after which Mr Anderton laid a wreath in the New Zealand section of the graveyard.
- NZPA
