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Summary
- New Zealand has taken a historic decision to retreat its armed personnel deployed in Afghanistan.
- NZDF personnel were deployed in Afghanistan since last 2 decades for curbing conflict in the nation.
- NZ has assured continuous support to the Afghan Government in future as well.
Recently, New Zealand announced that it will retreat its defense troops, thus, culminating their 2 decades deployment in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
NZ Military Personnel’s Journey in Afghanistan
As per the latest reports, New Zealand would withdraw its remaining military personnel from Afghanistan. In last two decades, 10 New Zealand army personnel laid down their lives and above 3,500 NZDF (New Zealand Defence Force) functioned in Afghanistan. The NDZF members were in Afghanistan since 2001, which consisted of special forces, reconstruction teams and officer training specialists.
Source: © Tdpanian | Megapixl.com
Kiwi SAS troopers were first sent to Afghanistan in December 2001 for a period of 365 days. Then, the troops were deployed for a brief period in 2004 and 2005 and then stationed permanently from 2009 to 2012. Further, NZDF’s reconstruction team was involved in rebuilding and reshaping the country for almost a decade starting from 2003 to 2013.
The Current Situation
Presently, there are 6 Kiwi defense personnel in Afghanistan – 3 stationed at Afghanistan National Army Officer Academy and the remaining three stationed at NATO Resolute Support Mission Headquarters. All 6 of them would return to New Zealand in May 2021.
Stance of NZ Government
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the decision was made after taking into consideration the current situation in Afghanistan and the DOHA peace agreement. She stated that time has come for NZDF personnel to exit from Afghanistan and come back to their homeland. The PM stated deployment of Kiwi troops was one of the longest in NZ chronicles.
Peeni Henare, Defense Minister mentioned New Zealand Government took the historic decision of terminating the development of its troops after keeping a close watch on the peace talks with the Afghan ruling party and Taliban, DOHA peace arrangement and closely watching the deliberations of its allies.
Promise of Umpteenth Support
NZ government has assured they would continue supporting its Afghan counterpart in maintaining the peace process in the country, in the future as well.
