New Zealand special forces likely to return to Afstan

Good on the Kiwis (via GAP):

US asks for elite NZ troops for Afghanistan war

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S. has formally asked New Zealand to send its elite Special Air Service [check the motto at link] combat troops back to Afghanistan for a fourth tour of duty, the foreign minister said Sunday.

The U.S. request was made following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington earlier this month, Murray McCully told TV One. While Clinton asked for troops, she did not specifically request the commando unit, he said.

The government is likely to agree to send the elite troops, which last served in the untamed southern portion of Afghanistan in 2006.

New Zealand has committed to help fight terror, posting troops in Afghanistan and providing navy ships and maritime surveillance airplanes [2003-2004 actually, I think] to patrol the Gulf of Hormuz between Iraq and Iran.

McCully said the government would consider resource and capacity issues before making a decision on the U.S. request. The deployment also depends on other conflicts in the South Pacific, he said.

McCully said a detailed review of defense forces would be completed by August.

New Zealand already has 140 troops serving in a provincial reconstruction team in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, northeast of the capital, Kabul. The team has been there since 2003 and is to remain until at least September 2010.