Prime Minister John Key came under fire for flying to the United States to watch his son Max play in a baseball tournament, instead of attending the funerals of Lance Corporals Pralli Durrer and Rory Malone, who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan on August 4.
Mr Key has said he will attend the funerals of Corporal Luke Douglas Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Lee Harris, 21, who were killed instantly when a roadside bomb destroyed their Humvee in Northeast Bamiyan Province.
Just days before he was killed, Corporal Tamatea voiced his belief that the Prime Minister should have stayed in New Zealand to honour the slain soldiers.
"If I was a leader of a country I would attend the funerals of our fallen soldiers..... I wouldn't be at a f****** baseball game!!" he posted on Facebook on August 9.
Mr Key said last week it was a "very difficult decision" to make.
"I've got to let somebody down, but my son makes huge sacrifices for me and my job and, in the final analysis, I've just decided it's probably the right thing to do - to go and support him."
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English took Mr Key's place at the funerals.
Meanwhile the head of the Defence Force Lieutenant General Rhys Jones said New Zealand troops would probably have to come under daily attack before they would be given some of the more heavily armoured vehicles used in Afghanistan.
But he said that even in the tougher armoured vehicles, no one would have survived the blast that killed the trio.
The force of the bomb is understood to have thrown one of the soldiers about 60m.
The soldiers were part of a convoy and were travelling in a Humvee, which gives little protection from roadside bombs.
General Jones said: "Nothing could have survived something this big unless it was a much heavier vehicle. This would have destroyed any type of mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle."
Countries which had the heavy-duty vehicles "are operating in a far more dangerous [environment] than we are, so in the south and the east is where the priority goes," he told a news conference with Prime Minister John Key and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Asked later if the NZ troops might get some of the tougher vehicles, General Jones said: "Not at this stage, because despite the attacks we have had and the rise in activities over the past couple of months, this is still a relatively quiet part of Afghanistan.
"The priority for those vehicles [is they] go where there are attacks on almost a daily basis."
Asked if that was what it would take for New Zealanders to get them, he said, "Probably."
New Zealand journalist Jon Stephenson, who works in Kabul, said that after the blast, troops from the attacked convoy searched the area and found and defused another bomb.
"If they hadn't done that, it's possible we could be dealing with a much greater number of fatalities."
He called the road the troops were travelling along a "no-go" area, and said it was becoming increasingly dangerous, even for locals.
"For someone like me, travelling along it would be like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in the chamber," he said.
The Prime Minister revealed yesterday that another specialist IED (improvised explosive device) team had been sent to Afghanistan last week after two New Zealand soldiers were killed two weeks ago.
The bodies of the three slain soldiers are expected to arrive at the military base at Burnham, near Christchurch, on Thursday.
Responsibility for finding the bomb makers lay with the Afghanistan police, General Jones said, but defence forces could support them in that.
"Possibly one of the actions we may need to take is a strike but ... the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] special forces would be the ones to undertake that."
New Zealand might contribute intelligence and planning support.
Mr Key said he would consider sending a small number of SAS troops back to Afghanistan in a planning and logistics role, but he had been told by General Jones they would not be required in a combat capability.
Mr Key also said yesterday that the Government had been considering bringing back the 145 members of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan as early as April, and had been considering it before the deaths two weeks ago.
He expected to confirm that within a fortnight.
"The Cabinet's preference is more around April ... "In terms of the argument of 'should we simply cut and run and leave this afternoon', that is not sensible."
The PRT has been in Bamiyan since 2003.
The year of withdrawal has been brought forward, with most ISAF forces, from 2014 to next year, but the date had not been confirmed.
The Taleban has taken responsibility for the bombing that killed the New Zealanders.
The increasing danger in Bamiyan province is thought to be coming from neighbouring Baghlan province.
Asked why he believed Bamiyan had become more dangerous, General Jones said it was because it was one of the first provinces declared ready to return to Afghan control.
"The Taleban have been making statements to say, 'We'll show you that no part of Afghanistan is safe.' So it really is the tall poppy syndrome of targeting those areas that are being held up as examples of successful transition."
Mr Key said New Zealand would not be "running out of Afghanistan" and ruled out pulling out the troops before next April.
"It's not just as simple as clicking our fingers and taking our people out.
"We have lost 10 brave New Zealanders, and we don't honour their service or their lives and the commitment and the ultimate sacrifice that they paid by running out of Afghanistan and doing the last bit of our work there in an unprofessional manner."
New Zealand troops would probably have to come under daily attack before they were given some of the more heavily armoured vehicles used in Afghanistan, Defence Force chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones said last night.
But he said that even in the tougher armoured vehicles, no one would have survived the blast that instantly killed three New Zealand soldiers on Sunday night (NZT), taking the country's toll in Afghanistan to 10.
The force of the bomb is understood to have thrown one of the soldiers about 60m. The soldiers were part of a convoy and were travelling in a Humvee, which gives little protection from roadside bombs.
General Jones said: "Nothing could have survived something this big unless it was a much heavier vehicle. This would have destroyed any type of mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle."
Countries which had the heavy-duty vehicles "are operating in a far more dangerous [environment] than we are, so in the south and the east is where the priority goes," he told a news conference with Prime Minister John Key and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Asked later if the NZ troops might get some of the tougher vehicles, General Jones said: "Not at this stage, because despite the attacks we have had and the rise in activities over the past couple of months, this is still a relatively quiet part of Afghanistan.
"The priority for those vehicles [is they] go where there are attacks on almost a daily basis."
Asked if that was what it would take for New Zealanders to get them, he said, "Probably."
Mr Key said he had raised with General Jones the possibility of getting other equipment or borrowing some from allies in Afghanistan.
Nothing could have survived something this big unless it was a much heavier vehicle.
The Prime Minister revealed yesterday that another specialist IED (improvised explosive device) team had been sent to Afghanistan last week after two New Zealand soldiers were killed two weeks ago.
Sunday's blast killed medic Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and two comrades, Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, and Private Richard Harris, 21.
Their bodies are expected to arrive at the military base at Burnham, near Christchurch on Thursday after being flown out of Afghanistan by the Australian Defence Force.
Responsibility for finding the bomb makers lay with the Afghanistan police, General Jones said, but defence forces could support them in that.
"Possibly one of the actions we may need to take is a strike but ... the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) special forces would be the ones to undertake that."
New Zealand might contribute intelligence and planning support.
Mr Key said he would consider sending a small number of SAS troops back to Afghanistan in a planning and logistics role, but he had been told by General Jones they would not be required in a combat capability.
Mr Key also said yesterday that the Government had been considering bringing back the 145 members of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan as early as April, and had been considering it before the deaths two weeks ago. He expected to confirm that within a fortnight.
"The Cabinet's preference is more around April ... there is a reason why a later date is probably not possible, even if we wanted to stay longer.
"In terms of the argument of 'should we simply cut and run and leave this afternoon', that is not sensible."
The PRT has been in Bamiyan since 2003.
The year of withdrawal has been brought forward, with most ISAF forces, from 2014 to next year, but the date had not been confirmed.
The Taliban has taken responsibility for the bombing that killed the New Zealanders.
The increasing danger in the Bamiyan province is thought to be coming from neighbouring Baghlan province.
Asked why he believed Bamiyan had become more dangerous, General Jones said it was because it was one of the first provinces declared ready to return to Afghan control.
"The Taliban have been making statements to say 'we'll show you that no part of Afghanistan is safe.' So it really is the tall poppy syndrome of targeting those areas that are being held up as examples of successful transition."
They wanted to discredit the Bamiyan Province because it was seen as successful.
Mr Key said New Zealand would not be "running out of Afghanistan" and ruled out pulling out the troops before next April.
"It not just as simple as clicking our fingers and taking our people out.
"We have lost 10 brave New Zealanders, and we don't honour their service or their lives and the commitment and the ultimate sacrifice that they paid by running out of Afghanistan and doing the last bit of our work there in an unprofessional manner.
"There is probably no question now that we are coming home on the fastest time path that is possible, but we can't move quicker than we are and do it in a professional way."
- Audrey Young, NZ Herald
