PM confirms SAS to leave Afghanistan in March
“You made a difference. It's time to come home,” Mr Key says.
Prime Minister John Key has confirmed that the NZSAS deployment to Afghanistan will end as scheduled in March next year.
“The SAS has achieved the job they were sent to do with Kabul’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU), and they have done that job to the very highest of standards,” says Mr Key of the decision which has been foreshadowed for some time.
“Tragically, they have also paid the highest price, with two of the SAS’s fine soldiers losing their lives in the course of this work and I would, once again, like to pay tribute to Corporal Doug Grant and Lance Corporal Leon Smith who were killed in action."
Mr Key says he deeply regrets the loss of soldiers but does not regret New Zealand’s commitment to operations in Afghanistan.
“You made a difference. It’s time to come home,” he says.
NBR staff
Thu, 22 Dec 2011
Thu, 22 Dec 2011
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PM confirms SAS to leave Afghanistan in March
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