Expect more troop deaths, public warned

VERNON SMALL AND TRACY WATKINS

New Zealanders are being warned to brace for more casualties in Afghanistan following the death of Lance Corporal Leon Smith this week, amid warnings the SAS's "mentoring" role in Kabul is proving more dangerous than previously acknowledged.

Lance Corporal Smith is the second NZ SAS soldier to die in Afghanistan in the past month.

It was revealed yesterday he was the first medic to treat his fallen comrade Doug Grant when he was shot in Kabul in August.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp conceded the SAS's work with the elite Afghan crisis response unit (CRU) involved a "substantial combat component".

And Defence Force chief Lieutenant-General Rhys Jones said it was not possible to say the SAS was not in the front line, because that was hard to define.

The Defence Force described the role of the SAS in Kabul as "mentoring" because that was the term used by the United States.

"It's like being a driving instructor. You're in the car, if there's a crash, you're going to get hurt," he said.

But Prime Minister John Key insisted the SAS in Kabul should not be described as a combat force.

"That's not right; in a combat force you're the frontline force. You're out there leading the charge. The CRU lead the charge and we support them. But if in that support something goes wrong we go in and help them."

Lieutenant-General Jones yesterday rejected a United Nations report suggesting Afghanistan was becoming more dangerous, with violent incidents up 39 per cent so far this year.

He said the ISAF international coalition forces data painted a different picture. It said complex attacks were down 20 per cent in the first six months of this year.

ISAF only includes attacks by insurgents, but the UN includes all incidents.

Meanwhile, amid questions about whether the public had been given the full picture of the SAS's role, intelligence and terrorism expert Jim Veitch said it was semantics to say the SAS was in a mentoring, not combat, role.

"They are not at the base camp all the time ... they are out with the Afghan special services group and that means they get involved operationally at that point. They must do, otherwise they are going to get killed. You have to get involved and defend yourself and that sometimes means taking out the person on the other side that is causing the fuss."

Dr Veitch said they were usually deployed alongside other military units, doing tracking in more rural areas. Working with Afghan forces in a city like Kabul "the ball game has changed".

"You can expect other deaths to follow, unless they change the role the SAS have right now in Kabul itself," he said. "We are now getting body bags and we are lucky it is only in small numbers."

He said the CRU was not well-considered and achieving the same level as the SAS was "not on the horizon yet".

United States President Barack Obama was under pressure to transfer responsibility to Afghan forces and withdraw troops, but the New Zealand Government would be pressed by the US to extend the SAS deployment past the current deadline of March.

He said the Key Government was more likely to agree if it won a big majority in November.

Most New Zealanders were positive about the 140-strong provincial reconstruction team in Bamiyan. "That's a real top-notch thing to be doing. It's different with our SAS in Kabul," he said.

Paul Buchanan, who has worked at the Pentagon and trained intelligence officers in the United States, also warned of more casualties and tipped the 35 SAS in Kabul would stay on after March.

"It's very possible that we'll see the guys reinforced and that number will go back up to 70 because of the frequency of the Taleban attacks." He said the SAS was not in a mentoring role, but rather leading the Afghan crisis response unit in its operations.

The ratio of 15 SAS to 50 Afghan soldiers in this week's operation in Wardak province made it clear the SAS was leading it.

Lieutenant General Jones yesterday revealed more details of the operation in which Lance Corporal Smith was killed.

He said the SAS, along with the CRU, were on a mission to stop a suspected insurgent attack on Kabul using suicide bombs.

He said Lance Corporal Smith had climbed a ladder to see into the compound and check the cordon being set up around the target area. He was fired at by an insurgent and fired back. The insurgent was later found with gunshot wounds to the head and later died.

Soon after another insurgent came around the corner of a building close to him and fired almost blind, hitting Lance Corporal Smith in the head. He was evacuated by helicopter but died on the operating table.

- © Fairfax NZ News