NZ sending enough troops, says new US Ambassador

David Huebner says New Zealand is a country of beauty, extraordinary strength of character and generosity of spirit. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The United States will not ask New Zealand to send more troops to Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama's surge, Washington's new ambassador to Wellington indicated yesterday.

David Huebner said that on a population basis, NZ was making an extraordinary contribution and he did not expect to be asked to increase that.

"The United States recognises and respects the contributions New Zealand is making," he said.

"On a per capita basis, New Zealand's commitment is extraordinary and substantial and no, I don't expect to be given instructions to try to alter that equation."

Mr Huebner held a press conference yesterday fresh from Washington where he was sworn in on Friday and received State Department briefings.

After President Obama's announcement last week that 30,000 more US troops would go to Afghanistan early next year, Prime Minister John Key made it clear New Zealand would not be receptive to increasing its contribution of about 200 military staff, including 70 SAS troops.

Mr Huebner said it was an "exciting time" to be ambassador and he looked forward to expanding and deepening US links with New Zealand, particularly on trade.

The US has agreed to enter talks which will expand the former P4 free trade agreement that already operates among New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile, to a new Trans pacific Partnership involving the US, Australia, Vietnam and Peru.

The only apparent reference he made to the 20-year rift over New Zealand's anti-nuclear policies was when he said that while links were close, all relationships "have their ups and downs".

He said there was close co-operation on nuclear non-proliferation.

He made a special reference to the work New Zealand and the US had done in keeping Antarctica free of weapons. "The United States recognises and respects the contributions New Zealand makes in the world in security, on environmental matters, on regional security."

Mr Huebner is a lawyer specialising in arbitration. He worked most recently in Shanghai where he headed the China practice of Sheppard, Mullin Richter and Hampton.

He is a friend of Vice-President Joe Biden and does not personally know President Obama.

Mr Huebner is gay and he said that at his swearing in, Mr Biden had told him that "the gay issue made the day a little bit more special for American democracy but it wasn't the reason I was chosen and it wasn't the reason I was chosen for here".

"What the Vice-President said ... was that it was a selection based on my experience with the Pacific and an understanding of the issues both of our countries face in the Pacific."

The Obama Administration valued diversity across the board.

"We judge people for the quality of their character and the depth of their ability, not by the irrelevancies that some people like to pick up."

Mr Huebner hopes his partner of 20 years, Afro-American psychiatrist Duane E. McWaine, will join him on his posting in March.

Mr Huebner, 49, said he had met Kiwis from the moment he left law school - he studied at Princeton and Yale. "New Zealanders work across the world in very interesting capacities.

"Your education system here is extraordinary. This is country not only of great natural beauty but extraordinary strength of character and generosity of spirit."