SAS back for front-line Afghan role

By HELEN TUNNAH, deputy political editor

New Zealand SAS forces are going back to Afghanistan as American efforts to find Osama bin Laden intensify.

Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday dropped the usual secrecy over SAS missions, saying that up to 50 Special Air Service troops would go to Afghanistan from April 1 for "long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions".

She said the six-month mission followed talks with the US, but she stopped short of saying the New Zealand had been asked to send special forces.

"We've been talking with them for some time ... Everybody is stepping up now," she said.

"I think there is a feeling that perhaps the eye went off the ball in Afghanistan through 2003 and there's been a lot of running to make up lost ground."

Helen Clark also said the frigate Te Mana would return to the Gulf of Oman region to monitor shipping for Taleban and al Qaeda personnel.


An Air Force Orion would be sent next year if it was needed.

New Zealand has 100 soldiers working on reconstruction in Afghanistan, invaded in the "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

The Americans have started a new effort to catch bin Laden, thought to be hiding there, and Afghanistan is trying to improve internal security before elections in June.

New Zealand sent SAS soldiers to Afghanistan for a year after the 2001 attacks.

They worked with US forces in raids against al Qaeda and the country's ousted Taleban rulers.

Helen Clark would not give details of what the new detachment of New Zealanders would be doing.

"Their specialty is in reconnaissance, surveillance, tracking," she said.

"They're very skilled people."

"We're saying when they're deploying, we're saying for up to how long and we're giving numbers.

"Don't expect daily or weekly reports. Nothing that has been said would prejudice their security."

Helen Clark said some information was being given about the SAS mission because it had become impractical to say nothing.

During the last mission, the Government refused to give any information, even when three soldiers were injured in a land-mine explosion.

But American and British soldiers and politicians spoke publicly about the New Zealanders' role.

Helen Clark said yesterday the troops would work with soldiers from other countries but would remain under the command of a senior New Zealand officer who would ensure the actions of the forces were within the rules of engagement she had approved.

"If he thinks the rules of engagement approved by the Government do not permit a certain activity, the red card goes up," Helen Clark said.

The SAS would not be sent outside Afghanistan, even though the hunt for Osama bin Laden is concentrated on the border regions with Pakistan.

Helen Clark visited the provincial reconstruction team in Bamian province late last year amid tight security and met Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

She said she wanted Afghanistan to get the chance to rebuild so it did not become "a failed state where people like bin Laden and friends can operate freely".

She had "no idea" if sending the troops might advance New Zealand's case for a free trade deal with the US.

And she did not think New Zealanders would face increased risk of al Qaeda terrorist attacks because the SAS troops were being sent to Afghanistan.

"Every New Zealander, particularly when they travel, is as much at risk as any other Westerner right now, whether or not the SAS are there," she said.

"Really, nothing changes."

Green MP Keith Locke said last night that the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan would please the White House and sadden New Zealanders.

"We shouldn't be endangering New Zealand lives for one of George Bush's wars," he said.

The SAS would be taking part in American raids which had upset many Afghans.