Phil Goff

Wellington, Sept 22 NZPA - The previous government sent Special Air Service (SAS) troops to Afghanistan three times but Labour opposes the latest deployment.

Prime Minister John Key announced yesterday that 71 of the elite combat troops had arrived in Afghanistan, joining an international force that is striving to stabilise the country.

Mr Key acknowledged they faced deadly danger.

"The Italians lost six people last week, that is the very real risk our people face," he said.

"I think the alternative is that we are left with a country where control is ceded to the Taleban, where in all probability more terrorist activities will be planned and schemes will be hatched."

But Labour leader Phil Goff says the situation has changed significantly since the last deployment in 2005.

"We were increasingly concerned that al Qaeda was no longer the issue...rather it was degenerating into a local conflict between bands of Taleban and the Karzai administration," he said.

"We decided after 2005 that the more effective contribution for New Zealand was the provincial reconstruction team (PRT), where our troops in Bamyan were doing a good job and were supported by the local people."

The Government intends winding down the PRT, which is run by about 140 Defence Force personnel.

It had been asked by the United States to again send the SAS.

Mr Key would not say where in Afghanistan they would operate, although he confirmed they would not move into neighbouring Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is facing fraud accusations following the August 20 election and Mr Key was asked whether he was concerned that the SAS could be seen to be propping it up.

"No. I think New Zealanders will see the deployment in the same way as they see other forces deployed there -- this is a historical hotbed of terrorism, a place where we're trying to stabilise the environment so that our forces in Bamyan are, hopefully, in a safer location," he said.

Mr Goff said he thought a growing number of people in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world were concerned "that we would be sending our people to die for a regime that we don't believe is an effective governor of Afghanistan".

New Zealand will provide three rotations of SAS troops during the next 18 months.