SAS keen to stay but PM not sure

A New Zealand soldier on patrol in Afghanistan. Photo / Patrick Gower

Prime Minister John Key says about a third of the 70-strong Special Air Service contingent serving in the war in Afghanistan could stay beyond the end of the scheduled deployment in March.

But he said the Cabinet was yet to consider the issue and would not make any decisions until around Christmas.

The SAS personnel are based in Kabul to train the local Crisis Response Unit (CRU), and are due to finish their rotation in March.

There is also a 140-strong provincial reconstruction team based in Bamiyan province, which is to be replaced over five years with local civilians.

The former head of international forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, told reporters in May that he wanted New Zealand's troops to stay longer, but Mr Key said the US has not formally made such a request.

SAS troops, however, have told him that they would like to stay.

"It's possible that we leave a small contingent there - about a third of what's currently there - to work alongside the CRU," Mr Key told Radio New Zealand.

"The Government actually hasn't expressed a view on whether that's a good idea or not. I know the SAS are keen to make sure that the 18 months they've put into training the CRU isn't lost."

He said he wanted the SAS to be home around the time of the Rugby World Cup "not because we anticipate deploying them, but because we just need them here".

Labour and the Greens have called for the SAS to return to New Zealand on schedule.

Labour leader Phil Goff said the SAS should not be fighting for a corrupt regime that had failed to lift the "hearts and minds" of the people.

"If the Government in Afghanistan was an effective, non-corrupt Government ... then maintaining such a Government would be a justifiable decision. In the absence of it, you have to ask what the sacrifice is for."

Green MP Keith Locke said the SAS had been mired in controversy over the handling of prisoners by locals.