Wed, 04 Aug 2010 4:53p.m.
By Mike McRoberts
The death of Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell in Bamyan, Afghanistan will no doubt raise a number of questions.
Should New Zealand troops continue to be part of the coalition force in Afghanistan, are we fighting someone else’s “unwinnable war”?
And perhaps most pointedly – what exactly did the Lieutenant die for?
I remember being in North Western Bamyan with Kiwi Two patrol 18 months ago. It is a remote rugged area and every time you travel along the narrow roads you feel like a target.
On the second day of their deployment Kiwi Two patrol was a target, hit by an IED which tore through the front of one of their vehicles sending windscreen glass flying into the face of the patrol leader Lieutenant Sean McCulloch.
You might remember the billboard shots of me sitting with Lt McCulloch just above where the attack had previously taken place.
The thing that interested me the most about our chat that day was the total commitment Lt McCulloch and the rest of his patrol felt towards their work in Bamyan and how the brush with death would not deter them.
There’s no doubt those soldiers and the many other Kiwi servicemen and women who have been deployed to Bamyan over the past eight years have made a significant difference to the lives of the local population.
The reality of today’s tragedy is that now the betterment of Bamyan lives will be measured against the loss of one of ours.
I remember interviewing the head of the New Zealand Joint Forces Major General Rhys Jones just over a year ago. He said the New Zealand public had to be ready for the possibility that one of our soldiers, particularly in Afghanistan, may come home in a body bag.
Unfortunately precautionary comments are one thing, it actually happening is another.
The Sunday Star Times ran a survey recently polling public support for New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan. While the numbers were split (around 47 percent both for and against) support for the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan was overwhelmingly positive - some 72 percent.
A future poll may tell a different story, and will undoubtedly place the Government under more pressure to at least scale down our military commitment.
The fact we haven’t had a casualty until now is something of a miracle. The United States have lost around 1140, the UK 327, Canada 150 and Australia 17. The Dutch who have had 24 troops killed in action there are now pulling out.
The line we’ve been hearing from the Prime Minister today is that there’ll be no knee jerk pulling out of New Zealand troops. He’s even linked it to New Zealand’s legacy in the region and the fact that the job’s not done.
So here’s another question – when in fact will the job be done?