Sitting on a dirty straw mat on the parched ground of southern Afghanistan, Masooma sank deeper inside a giant shawl. Hidden from view, her words burst forth as she told what happened to her family in pre-dawn darkness on March 11 last year.

Kyrgyzstan's emergencies minister says the bodies of two American crew members have been found after a US military refuelling plane crashed in rugged mountains

Last Sunday morning Matt McCarten was on TVNZ as a Q+A panelist.

Prime Minister John Key said it was regrettable that two New Zealanders involved in conflict in Afghanistan were injured by friendly fire last year.

Two New Zealand soldiers were injured by friendly fire during a heated battle in which two of their colleagues were killed in Afghanistan last year.

Thirty Afghan interpreters and their families arrived to start new lives in New Zealand today.

The last Kiwi troops to arrive home from Afghanistan have been given a hero's welcome tonight.

For Chuck and Yardley, the explosive-sniffing dogs of Bamiyan, nothing could be more fun than discovering a bomb on the side of the road.

New Zealand's Governor-General Lieutenant General Sir Jerry Mateparae and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman were among a group of dignitaries who met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

The war in Afghanistan has cost the New Zealand taxpayer about $300 million, the Defence Force says, as our final contingent of troops prepares to withdraw later this month.

The first time I encountered Hazara was in Kabul in 2008. I had placed my life in the hands of Khalib, an Afghan translator.

Twenty-seven New Zealand troops will stay on in Afghanistan for about a year following the withdrawal of the NZ Provincial Reconstruction Team, Prime Minister John Key has announced.

Army chiefs and the Defence Minister have hit back at claims that ill-prepared soldiers were sent into combat in Afghanistan.

A leaked report has strongly criticised the training given to an army contingent sent to Afghanistan which lost five of its members in combat.

Prince Harry has killed his first Taliban commander.

Former Afghan interpreters who have worked with the New Zealand-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in the last two years will be offered refuge here under a widened assistance package, the Government has announced.

A senior Taliban leader thought to be behind a roadside bombing in which three New Zealand soldiers died has reportedly been killed by coalition forces.