New Zealand increases troops in Afghanistan from 10 to 13

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand announced Friday it will increase its tiny military force in Afghanistan from 10 people to 13 following a request from NATO.

The New Zealand troops are assigned to noncombat roles, working as mentors and support personnel at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy in Kabul.

New Zealand has stationed troops in Afghanistan since 2001, mostly in reconstruction roles.

President Donald Trump this week outlined his strategy on Afghanistan, including getting tough on neighboring Pakistan. He alluded to sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan but didn't say how many.

New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English, asked by reporters if he was worried about following the strategy of an unpopular U.S. president, said his nation was involved in Afghanistan "long before President Trump turned up.

"It's all about New Zealand playing its part in a global effort to smother the sources of terrorism," English said.

New Zealand has committed to keeping a military presence in Afghanistan until at least next June. </s> WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Just days after the United States said it would increase troop numbers in Afghanistan and ask its allies to do the same, New Zealand on Friday announced an extra three non-combat military personnel, boosting its military commitment to 13.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his strategy to end the conflict in Afghanistan, committing the United States to an open-ended conflict and signaling he would dispatch more troops to America’s longest war.

U.S. officials have said Trump had signed off on plans to send about 4,000 more U.S. troops to add to the roughly 8,400 now deployed in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has since said exact troop numbers are yet to be decided.

Trump said he would ask coalition allies to support his new strategy, with additional troops and funding, to end the 16-year conflict.

New Zealand Defence Minister Mark Mitchell’s announcement boosting the country’s Kabul-based troops to 13 follows a request for NATO (National Atlantic Treaty Organization) to send more troops to Afghanistan earlier this year.

New Zealand has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001. Its presence has been decreasing since 2013 but it has kept some personnel on the ground to train local officers.

“New Zealand will continue to stand alongside our partners in supporting stability in Afghanistan and countering the threat of international terrorism,” said Mitchell.

Prime Minister Bill English said the government has ruled out making a decision on sending combat troops to Afghanistan before New Zealand’s election on Sept. 23.

Opposition leader Jacinda Ardern told local media this week she would not back sending troops to Afghanistan at the moment but was not privy to intelligence such decisions were based on. </s> Just days after the United States said it would increase troop numbers in Afghanistan and ask its allies to do the same, New Zealand on Friday announced an extra three non-combat military personnel, boosting its military commitment to 13.

US President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his strategy to end the conflict in Afghanistan, committing the United States to an open-ended conflict and signalling he would dispatch more troops to America's longest war.

US officials have said Trump had signed off on plans to send about 4,000 more US troops to add to the roughly 8,400 now deployed in Afghanistan. US. Defence Secretary James Mattis has since said exact troop numbers are yet to be decided.

Trump said he would ask coalition allies to support his new strategy, with additional troops and funding, to end the 16-year conflict.

New Zealand Defence Minister Mark Mitchell's announcement boosting the country's Kabul-based troops to 13 follows a request for NATO (National Atlantic Treaty Organization) to send more troops to Afghanistan earlier this year.

New Zealand has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001. Its presence has been decreasing since 2013 but it has kept some personnel on the ground to train local officers.

"New Zealand will continue to stand alongside our partners in supporting stability in Afghanistan and countering the threat of international terrorism," said Mitchell. </s> New Zealand is putting $6 million into a multipurpose hall and sports facility in the Solomon Islands in a bid to keep youth off the street.

Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett has been in Honiara marking the departure of the Regional Assistance Mission.

Sixty seven per cent of the population is aged between 15-25 and more than half are unemployed.

Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett had been in the capital Honiara marking the departure of the Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI) which has been based in the country for 14 years helping to keeping law and order.

Mrs Bennett says development of youth is important for the country moving ahead.

She said she is "genuinely optimistic" about future of the Solomons as RAMSI officially withdraws today.

Eight New Zealand police officers will continue to support their Solomons counterparts as advisors with as focus on community policing. </s> CLOSE

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, is greeted by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on June 25, 2019, during an unannounced visit. At right is Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

Two U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The identities of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The statement did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province, the New York Times reported.

The deaths occurred one day after an unannounced visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is holding direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, the Qatari capital. The seventh round of the talks are scheduled to begin on Saturday.

"We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so," Pompeo told reporters during an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The presence of troops in Afghanistan is "conditions-based, he said.

The Taliban refuse to talk directly with the Afghan government, which it considers a puppet of the U.S.

More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The coalition sought to crush the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. makes up the overwhelming majority of 14,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan. About 100,000 troops were stationed there at the height of the war.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/26/aghan-war-2-u-s-service-members-killed-possible-taliban-ambush/1569137001/ </s> The Australian government has asked New Zealand to keep its offer to take up to 150 refugees on the table, despite turning down the offer for five years, documents show.

In November last year, the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, reiterated her government’s offer to take up to 150 refugees after a weeks-long standoff at Manus Island detention facility led to a desperate humanitarian situation for the remaining detainees.

New Zealand has made the same offer to the Australian government since 2013, but it has been strongly and repeatedly refused. The Australian home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, described it as a “bad option” and suggested it may encourage people-smuggling boats to intensify their efforts to reach Australia.

“I don’t rule it out, I never have,” Dutton said at the time. “But at this point in time, it is the wrong decision to send people to New Zealand because in the end you’ll start the boats, people will fill up the vacancies we’ve created in Nauru, you’ll get the deaths at sea again. I’m just not going to preside over that arrangement.”

Despite Dutton’s reluctance, government papers obtained by Sky News show Australia asked the New Zealand government to keep its offer on the table, in case plans to re-home Manus Island detainees in the US fell through.

A memo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) to Ardern also reveals the New Zealand offer was not without caveat, and New Zealand preferred to accept refugees in family units from Nauru, rather than the single men who were housed on Manus Island.

The documents from Mfat also raised concerns about whether the detainees would pass New Zealand’s strict screening laws, which include character and security tests.

Arif Saeid from the Refugee Council for New Zealand said the needs of the detainees held on Manus Island were “more desperate” than those on Nauru and the New Zealand government shouldn’t “cherry-pick” which refugees it offered help to.

“Single men are not more dangerous than other asylum seekers; often they do not have the resources to escape with their whole family so they come alone. It is discriminatory to not accept single men or single women.”

In 2001 Helen Clark’s Labour government offered asylum to 130 refugees who were rescued from the Tampa after it sunk off the Australian coast.

Twenty of the 130 asylum seekers were young boys and adolescents, and became known as the “Tampa boys”.

The United Nations refugee agency has repeatedly urged Australia to accept New Zealand’s offer, as recently as November last year.

“We urge Australia to reconsider this and take up the offer,” said Nai Jit Lam, deputy regional representative at the UNHCR.

New Zealand currently accepts 750 refugees every year, with the new Labour coalition government pledging to double that number in the next three years.

The New Zealand Red Cross, which helps process and integrate asylum seekers, said it was ready and prepared to accept the Manus Island refugees. </s> Two U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The identities of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The statement did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province, The New York Times reports.

The deaths occurred one day after an unannounced visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is holding direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, the Qatari capital. The seventh round of the talks are scheduled to begin on Saturday.

"We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so," Pompeo told reporters during an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The presence of troops in Afghanistan is "conditions-based, he said.

The Taliban refuses to talk directly with the Afghan government, which it considers a puppet of the U.S.

More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The coalition sought to crush the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. makes up the overwhelming majority of 14,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan. About 100,000 troops were stationed there at the height of the war. </s> (CNN) All military-style semi-automatic weapons, assault rifles and high-capacity magazines will be banned in New Zealand following the mass shootings at two Christchurch mosques that killed 50 people, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday.

"On 15 March our history changed forever. Now our laws will too. We are announcing action today on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen our gun laws and make our country a safer place," Ardern said at a press conference in the capital Wellington.

The announcement came after the country's cabinet agreed to overhaul the law and ban military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles 72 hours after the Christchurch attacks.

"Every semi-automatic weapon used in the terror attack on Friday will be banned," Ardern continued, adding that she hoped the law would be in place by April 11. "This legislation will be drafted and introduced in urgency."

An estimated 1.2 million guns are in circulation in the country, according to New Zealand Police -- one for every three people. Ardern said the buyback scheme could cost between $100 million to $200 million.

Later on Thursday, New Zealand Police announced all 50 bodies from the shootings had been identified. "This means that all victims are now able to be released to their families," Police Commissioner Mike Bush said in a statement.

Arden said a "nationwide reflection" for the dead would be held on Friday -- one week after the attack.

Amnesty for gun returns

The gun reform proposal will be introduced to Parliament in the first week of April. For it to come into effect, lawmakers need to vote on amending the existing legislation, the Arms Act 1983.

In the interim, New Zealand Governor General Patsy Reddy has signed an order to reclassify some semi-automatic weapons as "military-style".

As a result, many people who legally owned certain firearms will no longer be able to possess them on their existing license conditions.

An amnesty will be put in place for weapons to be handed in from Thursday. Cabinet has directed officials to develop a buyback scheme, and Ardern said that further details would be announced "in due course."

Bush said gun drops would be set up at police stations so citizens could safely hand in guns.

"I can't emphasize enough that in the current environment it is important you do not take your now-unlawful firearm anywhere without notifying police," Bush said. "It is absolutely vital that we manage the safe and organized transport of all firearms into police custody."

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The Australian model

Ardern pointed to similar measures taken in Australia following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre as an example for New Zealand to follow, including certain "exemptions for farmers."

Police Minister Stuart Nash said the bill would include "narrow exemptions" for the police and the defense forces, as well as "legitimate business uses" such as professional pest control.

"Some guns serve legitimate purposes in our farming communities," he added, noting that exemptions had been made for .22-caliber rifles and shotguns used for duck hunting.

Immediate action would be taken to prevent people from stockpiling weapons ahead of the change in law and to encourage gun owners to surrender their weapons, he said.

After Australia implemented a similar ban, the country destroyed more than a million weapons, and additional gun buybacks and amnesties have been conducted since. Last year, more than 57,000 weapons were handed in , including a rocket launcher and a World War II machine gun.

In the wake of the reforms, mass shootings in Australia dropped to zero, gun suicides declined by an average of 4.8% per year, and gun-related homicides declined by an average of 5.5% per year.

Philip Alpers, founding director of GunPolicy.org and a University of Sydney academic, said the buyback "has a good chance of delivering the same life-saving public health benefit as that which followed the 1996 Australian buyback."

Gun controls welcomed

There had been a groundswell of support for tougher legislation, with almost 70,000 New Zealanders signing petitions calling for gun control reform, according to TVNZ. On Thursday, crowds gathered outside Parliament in Wellington to deliver those petitions to lawmakers from across the political divide.

New Zealand's Police Association welcomed the planned law changes, congratulating the government for "demonstrating the courage to take decisive action and ban the firearms that have inflicted so much harm in New Zealand."

"I hope that the moves immediately attract cross-party support because it is important for New Zealanders to know that their political leaders are all on board with this extremely important move," association president Chris Cahill said in a statement.

Lobby group Federated Farmers issued a statement backing tougher gun laws but acknowledged that many of its members would not support its decision.

"This will not be popular among some of our members but after a week of intense debate and careful consideration by our elected representatives and staff, we believe this is the only practicable solution," Feds Rural Security spokesperson Miles Anderson said.

"We are trying to tread a responsible path. The wrong guns can't be allowed to get into the wrong hands."

Opposition leader Simon Bridges said his National party supported the proposed changes.

"The terrorist attack in Christchurch last week has changed us as a nation," the party said in a statement. "National has been clear since this devastating attack that we support changes to our regime and that we will work constructively with the government." </s> Hundreds of British troops and tanks are on their way to an EU border with Russia in the biggest show of force against Moscow since the Cold War.

An advance guard of some 120 troops touched down last night at an air base in Estonia, a country which borders Russia and sees Moscow as a threat to the West.

Three hundred vehicles will arrive by next week, including Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 artillery weapons.

More troops will follow, bringing the UK total to around 800 by next month – all there at Estonia’s request – as part of a major Nato deployment to Eastern Europe.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the move was about ‘standing up to Russian aggression’.

He said: ‘In the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, Nato is stepping up its commitment to collective defence.

‘The arrival of 120 British troops this weekend marks the start of our largest ever deployment to Eastern Europe.

‘By the end of next month, we will have 800 British troops, with armour, with tanks, ready to help reassure our allies and to underline our commitment to the security of Europe.

‘And this isn’t just about the Baltic states, this is about NATO, this is about NATO standing up to Russian aggression and being ready to defend and deter.’

He added: ‘British troops will play a leading role in Estonia and support our US allies in Poland, as part of wider efforts to defend NATO.

‘Our rising defence budget means we can support those deployments in the long-term and strengthen our commitment to European security.’

Commanding Officer of 5 Rifles Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wilson added: ‘The UK and Estonia have a long and proud history of serving together, including in Afghanistan, so it is an honour to lead 5 RIFLES on this deployment as a part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence.

'My soldiers are looking forward to again be working, training and exercising alongside their Estonian counterparts.’

The UK is taking a leading role alongside other nations in Nato’s Enhanced Forward Presence designed to respond quickly to any threat from Russia.

Some 150 British personnel are also deploying to Poland.
New Zealand announces the stationing of three more non-combat military personnel in Afghanistan, boosting its military commitment to 13.