Time for Kiwis to Come Home

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue May 22 2012 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Time for Kiwis to Come Home

Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 12:22 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Phil GOFF
Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs

22 May 2012

MEDIA STATEMENT

Time for Kiwis to Come Home

After nine years and 19 rotations it’s time for Kiwi soldiers to wind up the Bamyan deployment and come home, Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Phil Goff, says.

“We can be proud of the work done by Kiwi troops serving with the Provincial Reconstruction team. We have helped to maintain a generally peaceful local environment and worked with people there on development projects.

“Our soldiers have served professionally and shown respect and friendship towards local people who in turn have been supportive of New Zealand’s presence there,” Phil Goff said.

“It was a big advantage for us to have worked with the administration of Governor Sarabi which has largely been honest and competent.

“That is in huge contrast to the national administration which has been corrupt, implicated in drug trafficking and unable to win the confidence of the wider Afghan population.

“The PRT has been a major commitment by New Zealand, with thousands of Kiwis serving in the deployment at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.

“But the solution to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan in the end can only be found by the people who live there. No amount of external presence can preserve a government that is incapable of securing the support of its own people.

“Fundamental change within the current administration and dialogue with its opponents offers the best chance of securing longer term peace.

“Without that, the future for Afghanistan looks bleak,” Phil Goff said.

ENDS

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