Tell the average citizen of Afghanistan that GDP per capita in their country grew 100 percent between 2002/3 to 2008/9, and they might just shrug their shoulders and say: “So what do I care of such things?”
But the statistic is revealing. As are others like: 83 percent of Afghans now having access to basic healthcare, up from just eight percent in 2002; over 23,000km of roads have been improved or asphalted since 2002; over 2,000 schools have been built or refurbished since 2001 (there are now 13 state universities, 8 other state institutions of higher education and a dozen private universities — 20 per cent of the students are female); and nearly 8 million cell phone subscribers, up from zero in 2001.
That’s because from the outset the key function of provincial reconstruction teams (PRT), like the New Zealand PRT based in Bamyan province, has been to provide security and stability in a region to facilitate the delivery of Government assistance, capacity building, and governance improvements.
On this front, Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the Kiwi PRT has done New Zealand proud: “When I visited Afghanistan, all the leaders I spoke to in Kabul — whether they were leaders from Afghanistan or those involved in the international effort — without exception, spoke in the highest possible terms of the contribution made by members of the New Zealand Defence Force who serve in the provincial reconstruction team and by those who assist them.”
The Kiwi in charge of New Zealand’s PRT in Bamyan, Group Captain Greg Elliott, readily acknowledges that security is only part of the mission.
“We are heavily focussed on development and more recently governance. The NZPRT is in the middle of a $US40m ‘development surge’ with the priorities on roads, health and education infrastructure. This money is being supplied by the US military, with meaningful contributions from NZAID, USAID and Singapore. Significantly, the delivery is all Kiwi led.
“In recent weeks, we had one whole village of 200 families say they were praying for us, out of gratitude for restoring electricity. We get invited to village dinners now as their way of saying ‘thank you’.
“We know solutions to security problems will have to be ‘Afghan solutions’ — to give credibility to the Afghan government in the eyes of the people. Winning the people over is what will win this war; this means improving the lives of Afghans. Bamyan and the work of NZPRT is being seen by many as a model, and a glimpse of how Afghanistan can be when locals, government and the international community join forces.”
This is a point not lost on the NATO coalition — as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), 26 countries have troops on the ground, including New Zealand. The ISAF nations are now taking a dual approach, which involves building the security of Afghanistan, and the civil reconstruction of the country. That is not just the physical infrastructure such as the building of schools, health clinics, roading, and electrical distribution; it also involves improving civil governance such as training the police force, the judiciary, and the civil service.
This change in emphasis has prompted the New Zealand Government to recalibrate its strategy in Afghanistan. On 14 August Prime Minister John Key announced a “re-alignment” of our PRT’s role to include helping build the capacity of the Afghan National Police to accelerate the transfer of the lead security role in Bamyan to the police.
Recently the New Zealand Government stated fairly plainly that it was acting in concert with the thinking of the international community, lifting the level of civilian work and development work taking place in Afghanistan today, but also lifting the level of military support that goes there, to make sure that those who carry out the development and governance support are able to carry out their work safely.
The main decisions made by Cabinet were:
- The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan province will be gradually drawn down over the medium term, and there will be an increased civilian effort focused on the province in the areas of agriculture, health and education.
- Around 70 1NZSAS personnel will be deployed in Afghanistan for up to 18 months, in three rotations.
“The realignment will include a greater emphasis on development assistance and promoting good governance,” said the Prime Minister. “The development assistance will focus on agriculture, health and education. To this end, it is proposed that a development adviser be attached to the PRT. To support the work, the Government also plans to appoint a senior diplomatic representative in the country instead of having diplomatic representation run from Tehran.”
Unquestionably though, it was the return of NZSAS troops to Afghanistan that grabbed headlines.
Defence Minister Dr Wayne Mapp agrees that the current surge is intended to change the security situation: “New Zealanders are not free-riders,” he says. “That is why we are in Afghanistan. That is why we have taken on responsibilities beyond our size when it comes to peacekeeping. We are prepared to work with like-minded countries to improve security where we can.”
NZ SAS Deploy to Afghanistan
On announcing that 71 NZSAS troops would be sent to Afghanistan in three rotations over eighteen months, Prime Minister John Key said he was well aware of the situation the specialist soldiers would be going into: “I recognise this is a dangerous environment …. There are very real risks our people face and it wasn’t an easy decision to send them … I think New Zealanders will see the deployment in the same ways they see other forces there …a place in which we are trying to stabilise the environment so that our forces in Bamyan can be in a safer location.”