The attack in which Lieutenant Timothy O'Donnell died yesterday was in a particularly troubled part of Afghanistan, where the mountainous terrain lends itself to ambushes by Taleban insurgents and criminals.

The identities of two soldiers injured in an Afghanistan insurgent attack overnight have been revealed.

Labour leader Phil Goff knows the pain of the grieving O'Donnell family - his nephew was killed in Afghanistan three years ago.

The New Zealand soldier killed in Afghanistan overnight was a decorated officer who had been in the army for five years.

New Zealand's first combat death in Afghanistan is not a reason to withdraw our troops from the country, Prime Minister John Key says.

Maggie Tait, who visited Bamiyan in May, reflects on life on the New Zealand base there in the wake of its first combat death.

Thirty-four soldiers from just one army base have faced drinking-related court charges in the first six months of this year.

Two men have been rescued from stormy seas off Niue after their yacht capsized yesterday.

Wayne Mapp has confirmed the WikiLeaks report of a missile threat faced by an RNZAF Hercules in Afghanistan last year.

Poor policy and a culture of not asking questions led to senior Defence Force staff double-dipping on allowances, a report has found.

The Auditor-General Lyn Provost has questioned the values within the New Zealand Defence Force which allowed a belief to develop that any officer could be ordered to commit an unlawful act.

Murray McCully says Afghanistan's Bamiyan Province, where NZ troops have been since 2003, will be ready to stand on its own before Hamid Karzai's 2014 deadline.

Ninety-four years to the day after they were killed and buried anonymously in one of the first world war's bloodiest battles, 250 Australian and British soldiers have finally been laid to rest with the recognition they deserve.

The strategy sits for now on a table in a locked-down Afghan capital: Hand over security in all 34 provinces to the government by the end of 2014.

A formal police investigation is underway to determine if a man gunned down by police last night fired the first shot.