Motions — Afghanistan, Bamian—Withdrawal of Provincial Reconstruction Team

I seek leave to move a motion without notice concerning the withdrawal of the New Zealand provincial reconstruction team after a 10-year deployment in Afghanistan.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House acknowledge the withdrawal of the provincial reconstruction team in Bamian, Afghanistan and formally thank those who have so ably served the team, our country, and the people of Afghanistan. The Governor-General and the Minister of Defence were in Bamian on Friday to witness the flag over Kiwi Base being lowered for the final time after a decade of service. Members of our provincial reconstruction team, the majority of whom are from the New Zealand Defence Force, are now in the process of coming home.

The provincial reconstruction team’s achievements are very real and are ones of which the whole of New Zealand can be justifiably proud. The progress that has been made reflects a joint effort between a whole range of New Zealand and Afghan Government agencies and is mirrored in the enduring friendship between the peoples of Bamian and New Zealand.

New Zealand first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001, aware of the importance of collective security and international efforts to counter the threat of al-Qaeda. In 2003 we provided the provincial reconstruction team to help rebuild a province devastated by Taliban rule. Since then more than 3,500 New Zealand defence personnel have been posted to Bamian in 21 crib rotations, four separate deployments of the 1 NZ SAS Regiment, contributions in International Security Assistance Force headquarters, the UN mission, and at Bagram Air Base. Scores of New Zealand Police officers and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade civil servants have also been posted there.

New Zealanders arrived in Bamian in 2003 to a province that had been shattered. Hospitals and schools had been destroyed. Women and girls had suffered appalling treatment. New Zealand’s presence has facilitated the construction of roads that have dramatically improved access to markets, schools, and health facilities. Bamian’s hospital has been rebuilt and new health centres have been opened, mortality rates for children under 5 have halved, and maternal deaths are a quarter of the Taliban era levels. Almost half the children in Bamian primary schools are girls, and 38 percent of the teachers are female, as are 15 percent of the students at Bamian University.

Our expertise has improved agriculture in the province. We have supported training in basic veterinary skills and modernised farming techniques. We have introduced water management and flood protection measures, have helped construct wells across the region, and have been building the largest solar energy system in Afghanistan. Our contribution has been across the board, and our people have worked tirelessly in often very difficult conditions.

As a nation we can feel proud of the security and reconstruction improvements in Bamian, but the Government is acutely aware that those gains have come at a huge cost. New Zealand mourned the deaths of 10 of our servicemen and servicewomen during the Afghanistan deployment. Each loss was felt deeply. Today we remember, in particular, the ultimate sacrifice paid by Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell, Private Kirifi Mila, Corporal Doug Grant, Corporal Leon Smith, Corporal Douglas Hughes, Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer, Lance Corporal Rory Malone, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, Private Richard Harris, and Corporal Luke Tamatea. These were brave and committed young New Zealanders who will not be forgotten.

Other service people have been wounded in Afghanistan and their lives fundamentally altered. We acknowledge the losses of Afghan lives too. Our Government pays special tribute to Governor Sarabi for her inspirational leadership of the Bamian province. As part of its responsibilities, the Government will soon resettle a group of interpreters and their families in New Zealand. We are confident they will integrate well and contribute to this country.

This Parliament can be proud of what New Zealanders have achieved in Bamian. New Zealand leaves the province in relative stability and prosperity, ready for the next chapter in its history to be written by the people of Bamian.

The Labour Party joins in paying tribute to all our brave service and civilian personnel who have served in Afghanistan: the thousands who were part of the 21 crib rotations, our special forces, and those who worked for the International Security Assistance Force deployment, as well as for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other agencies. They all did our country proud. They went there as part of an international effort, backed by the United Nations Security Council. The decision taken by the Labour Government was not taken lightly but it was made for the right reasons. The Taliban were hosting al-Qaeda. The threat to the international community was real, as we all saw in the tragic events of September 11.

Now 10 years have passed, and it is more than enough time for us to withdraw. It has been our longest deployment—longer than World War I and World War II combined. We can all be proud of our soldiers and others who acted with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity. We were well regarded by the local people. The ability of our armed forces to work in communities and establish relationships with locals is second to none. It is something that marks us out, and was a big part of our success, particularly in Bamian.

However, it came with a cost, most sadly for the families of those soldiers who served but did not return. Today we pay tribute to those who made that supreme sacrifice; the names that the Acting Prime Minister just read out. Each of those 10 lives that were lost is a tragedy, and we acknowledge their loved ones. We also acknowledge those who were injured in the course of their service. New Zealanders are prepared to make the painful sacrifice, but only when the cause is worth fighting for.

The situation in Afghanistan has now changed; al-Qaeda is no longer a force. We have brought hope and the promise of a better future to the people of Bamian. When working in post-conflict areas, progress depends on three key pillars: a secure and stable environment, good governance, and increasing development in areas such as health and education. In Bamian, New Zealand was able to strengthen all three of those together for results that will endure. Our close work with the local administration has strengthened its abilities. Our work allowed schools to be built and vaccination programmes to run, and it brought the stability needed to allow Afghans to lead good lives.

A question remains about the future of Afghanistan. It will not be determined by those outside the country, however. Unfortunately, the Government we have been supporting in Afghanistan is blighted with corruption and has failed to win the hearts and minds of its people. But in the end only the people of Afghanistan can make their country flourish.

I remember being in Kabul, when I was working for the UN, speaking to the head of the UNICEF vaccination programme. She estimated that the programme that she was running saved 30,000 children a year. In deployments like this it is often forgotten that had we not been in Afghanistan and Bamian thousands would have lost their lives and many more would have had a much poorer quality of life.

The contribution of New Zealand has saved the lives of many and vastly improved the lives of many more. That is something for which both our personnel and New Zealand can be proud and that nobody can ever take away.

New Zealand’s provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan is finally on its way home nearly 10 years after being deployed there. We say to our forces, to our fellow New Zealanders: “Welcome back. Your professional work and your individual efforts are widely acknowledged.”

Historically, Afghanistan has been an easy place to deploy foreign armies into and a difficult one to get them out of. So the fact that most of our soldiers are coming back, while expected, comes as something of a relief. Our military commitment to Afghanistan has come at great cost. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent, and the greater cost, of course, has been in lives, with 10 Kiwi soldiers having died over there.

Afghanistan remains a troubled nation. In the view of the Green Party, New Zealand needs to move forward, offering more civilian aid. We are right to continue support for aid projects, including in agriculture and the establishment of solar-powered generators in Bamian. It is also right that those Afghanis who have risked their lives to assist the provincial reconstruction team and have been offered refugee status in New Zealand are starting to settle here. But as our troops come home and some remain, we do well to reflect on the struggle that we, the peoples of the United Nations, still experience in replacing conflict and chaos with peace and security, death and despair with life and fulfilment. I dare say that those returning home are aware of this rather poignant fact even more acutely than those of us here in this Chamber paying tribute to them today.

We would prefer that notices of motion of this type were presented in a way that avoids any suggestion of political overtones, but simply reflect the views of the country. And we would prefer if the Government, on the morning of such a motion, was to send us the wording so that we could agree together and act as one people. There is something slightly incongruous about members of Parliament representing political parties giving a different spin on an issue like this, but I suppose that we are forced to under the circumstances, and I think that a change could take place that better speaks with the single voice of the country.

That said, we join with other parties in paying tribute to those in the armed forces and other supporting personnel who were engaged in the 10-year deployment. Through their service our officials and soldiers upheld the long tradition of New Zealand’s contribution to national stability and security. They served New Zealand with distinction and the tribute is seriously well deserved, most especially for those who lost their lives in Afghanistan alongside the many from other nations who did so as well. We sincerely hope that the future of Afghanistan proves that it was all worthwhile.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātau o te Whare. Ā, kai te tū ake hai waha kōrero mō te Pāti Māori ki te kī atu e tautoko ana i te mihi a te Pirimia Tuarua, te Hōnore Bill English, me tāna mihi ki te hunga kua haere ki te mura o te ahi, ki tāwāhi, ā, ka mutu, kua hoki mai, te tūmanako, ā kō ake nei ki te wā kāinga. Kua roa rātau e ngaro atu ana i te tirohanga kanohi i tāwāhi—ka puta tētahi tira, ka hoki mai tētahi tira, ka puta tētahi tira, ka hoki mai tētahi tira. Mō te tekau tau e pērā anō te āhua. Nō reira, ko tā mātau i tēnei wā ko te kī atu, kāore he rere kētanga o te whakaaro o te Pāti Māori, arā, ko tērā, kia hoki mai wā tātau hōia, wā tātau tauira o Tūmatauenga ki te wā kāinga. Ēhara nō tātau tēnā pakanga, nō tangata kē. Koinei te tino tikanga o tēnei o ngā whakaaro kia hoki mai rātau ki te kāinga.

I a au e tū ake nei me mihi rā ki te māia, ki te angitu, ki te kaha o te hunga kua haere ki te mura o te ahi, ki tāwahi. Nā runga i tērā āhuatanga kua tū, me kī, ki te mura o te ahi kua rongo nei i te ngau o te pū, ko ētahi kua riro. Pēnei i te hunga e kōrerohia ake nei e te Minita, arā kō te hunga kua ngaro atu i te tirohanga kanohi ēngari, kāre he rere kētanga o te whakaaro. Me mihi ki a Tūmatauenga ka tika mō te hunga kua moe. Waiho rātau kia moe, kia okioki. Ko tā tātau ko te whakanui i te āhuatanga o ngā mahi i mahia mai ai e rātau, ka mutu, ki ō rātau whānau e tangi nei, e auē nei, e noho nei i te mamae i te mea, ko wā rātau i haere ki tāwāhi ki reira mate ai. Anā kei te pakitara o te Whare ngā tohu o te hunga, me kī, i whakarite i te āhuatanga o Tūmatauenga i ngā pakanga e hia kē nei i ngā tau kua hipa ake.

Nō reira, ko te ngākau kai te huri atu ki te hunga e noho pani nei, e noho mokemoke nei mō wā rātau tamariki, mokopuna, hoa rangatira rānei i rongo nei i te ngau o te pakanga i tāwāhi ēngari, ko te mea nui i hoki mai ki te wā kāinga ki konei tāpukengia mai ai. Hoi anō ko tā mātau ko te kī, kua eke ki te wā e tika ana kia hoki mai rā ki te kāinga, Kua ea te wāhi ki tāwāhi. Ko tā tātau ko te mihi ki a rātau. Koinei te mihi o te Pāti Māori ki a rātau. Tēnā koutou, kia ora tātau.

[Greetings to you, Mr Speaker, and to us of the House. I rise as spokesperson for the Māori Party to support the motion by the Acting Prime Minister, the Hon Bill English, and his tribute to those who went to the battlefront overseas and to their eventual withdrawal and return home, hopefully, very shortly. They have been away overseas for a long time—a team would go out and another would return, and so it went on for 10 years. So, at this point in time, I say that the view of the Māori Party has not changed in respect of our soldiers, our militia of the God of War, being withdrawn and brought home. That war was not ours; it belonged to someone else. This was always the unequivocal view: that they be withdrawn and returned home.

As I stand here, I pay a tribute to the courage, success, and bravery of those who entered the war zone overseas. Under that circumstance, they stood, shall we say, at the battlefront and experienced the gunfire through which lives were lost. Just like these ones mentioned by the Acting Prime Minister, there are those who are no longer seen but who stood without flinching. It is right that we pay a tribute to the God of War on behalf of those who died. Allow them to sleep and rest. Our part is to honour what they achieved and to honour their families grieving, mourning, and hurting here for their loved ones who went overseas and died there in the line of duty. There on the walls of the House are plaques for those who we should say made the supreme sacrifice to the God of War in several battles over the past years.

So the mind is turning to the ones who are left bereft and lonely for their children, grandchildren, husbands, or wives who made the supreme sacrifice at the battlefront overseas, but, just as importantly, were brought back and buried here. So we say to them, this is the proper time to come home. The matter relating to overseas has been fulfilled and our part is to acknowledge them. This is the Māori Party’s tribute to them. Thank you collectively and to us all.]

I want to join with other members who have spoken to commemorate the contribution made by New Zealand forces in Afghanistan in the last 10 years. I am very pleased that this House is debating this motion today, because it has not always been our tradition to recognise in a timely way contributions made to conflict situations around the world. It was a very long time after the conclusion of hostilities in Korea, for instance, before this House, early this decade, acknowledged the contribution of New Zealand forces in that conflict. The Viet Nam veterans will tell you with a lot of passion about how they felt overlooked and ignored when they came back to New Zealand at the end of their time in Viet Nam. So it is good that we are debating and supporting this motion today.

This has been our longest period of engagement anywhere, any time. I think many New Zealanders find that surprising. The 10 years have crept up on us very suddenly. But it has not been without cost, and reference has been made by others to the 10 New Zealand fatalities and the other injuries. Although it might appear infelicitous to single out any one of those casualties, I am sure the House will forgive me for doing so, and I explain my reason. One of those young men who died was Lance Corporal Leon Smith. I know Leon’s mother, Mary, well. They are local people in my electorate. I recall Leon as a young boy in the late 1980s, early 1990s, growing up and mixing with a group of kids who were in a circle of people whom we associated with. When you start to think about the fact that someone like him is not just a statistic but a real person who gave his life in a field of conflict, it brings home to us what it is we are talking about today. This is not some abstract situation that took place over a period of time in a far-off land. This is something that very dramatically touches the lives of many New Zealand households, many New Zealand families, and many New Zealand communities. While I am speaking on this point, can I also observe, because again it affects one of my sons, the New Zealander Jack Howard who was killed fighting with British forces in Afghanistan.

Young people have a sense of invincibility—that they can go on for ever, that they can triumph over adversity. It is a situation like this that brings home that unfortunate other reality. So it is good that we are acknowledging and thanking those who served in Afghanistan for their contribution. But there is one step further that we must take, and I believe my colleague to the right was alluding to this as well. We honour the campaigns New Zealanders have fought by the shields around this Chamber. I hope it is not too long before somewhere in this increasingly cluttered space an Afghanistan shield takes its place in this Chamber because that would be—

💬 Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: It’s happening.

—it is happening; I am delighted to hear that, Minister, thank you—the ultimate tribute that this nation could pay to those who served so valiantly for so long.

Motion agreed to.