By Duncan Garner
It's the question the Prime Minister has been fielding all day – why can't our troops leave now?
“There is no fast way out - we cannot click our fingers and put our people on a plane tomorrow afternoon, it cannot and will not work,” says John Key.
“I think the families who have lost loved ones would be shocked if we somehow just abandoned our operation and ran for the door.”
The troops were due out in September 2014, but that was recently bought back to late 2013 and now Mr Key is talking even earlier – but that’s not because of the latest deaths.
“It now looks likely that it will take place in the early part of 2013,” he says.
Labour's Phil Goff says Mr Key should get them home as possible.
“It is time for our troops to come home and there should be an orderly withdrawal,” he says.
But it's not that easy – Mr Key says even orderly withdrawals take months and we must do it alongside other countries.
“It's not as simple as clicking our fingers and leaving,” he says.
New Zealand journalist Jon Stephenson, who is in Afghanistan, says the Taliban attacks are designed to force foreign governments into pulling their forces out early.
“There's no question about the Taliban – they are highly intelligent, sophisticated insurgents. They know what they are doing and it’s designed with New Zealand public opinion in mind,” he says.
Within the next two weeks the Prime Minister will announce exactly when our troops will return.
“We're in this now and we've got to be professional and considered. We'll do it as fast as we can,” he says.
But these questions are becoming far too regular and uncomfortable for this Government, and it is now heavily engaged in talks over getting our troops home as soon as possible next year.
3 News