Today, National reported:
It is with great sadness that Prime Minister John Key has learned of the death of two New Zealand soldiers serving with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
The soldiers were killed during an encounter with insurgents, which began at about 7:00pm last night (NZ time) after they went to the aid of local security forces under attack.
Two local security personnel were also killed during the attack.
Another six New Zealand Defence Force personnel, 10 local security personnel, and one civilian were also injured.
"This brings the total number of New Zealand soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan to seven," Mr Key says.
It surprises me that the government is still calling those serving in Afghanistan a reconstruction team... Even One News tonight questioned the role our New Zealand soldiers are playing, with John Keys showing little real remorse for those lost.
After a poll in August last year showed a vast majority of Kiwis wanted our SAS to return home, that's exactly what happened. Most would have thought this was an end to our soldiers being involved in combat missions, but unfortunately that's not the case, and the so called reconstruction team is undertaking full combat maneuvers in conjunction with other invading and local forces.
This is an unjust war that the instigator is now unwilling to continue, and New Zealand should have no further involvement. How many more deaths will it take before the government actually listens to what the public wants?
