SAS troops uneasy at high-risk mission

Members of New Zealand's Special Air Service have expressed grave concerns about the dangers of the mission they have been given in their latest deployment to Afghanistan.

One commander said before departing 11 days ago that some of his men were extremely uneasy about the combination of an increasingly deadly insurgency and the high-risk missions.

The concerns have arisen despite the fact that morale in the SAS is generally high, and that troopers are eager to test their skills. The unit is also entering the battlefield with better pay and equipment.

The commanders' comments come at a time of record deaths for US forces and their allies in Afghanistan. In recent weeks American and Nato commanders have openly discussed the possibility the conflict may be lost. On Thursday, five US soldiers died in three incidents in Afghanistan; a total of 769 Americans have died in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan and Uzbekistan since the US invaded in 2001.

And six Italian soldiers were killed earlier this month when their convoy was hit by a car bomb in Kabul previously regarded as one of the country's few areas of relative safety.

The Sunday Star-Times has been given information about new SAS missions, but is withholding details that might compromise unit safety. The work will be far more dangerous than that carried out on deployments between 2001 and 2005.

The unit's latest mission, approved by Prime Minister John Key, will see SAS men in close-quarter battle in urban areas. Close-quarter battle is one of the most complex and hazardous areas of special operations, often leading to intense firefights at very short range. Soldiers from other special forces have been killed on such missions in Iraq and this month in Afghanistan.

Previous SAS deployments, by contrast, have focused on long-range patrols and rural reconnaissance. The SAS also took prisoners during "snatch and grab" operations, which led to controversy after revelations they were transferred to US custody at Kandahar, where torture was occurring. The Star-Times has learnt the government has signed a secret agreement with Afghanistan to protect the latest SAS contingent and other soldiers from legal implications of complicity in torture.

Afghanistan has undertaken that prisoners transferred by New Zealand forces will not be mistreated or tortured and will not face the death penalty but only signed the agreement on condition the existence of the agreement and its details were suppressed. It is a violation of international law to transfer prisoners to another country if it is likely they will be abused.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have documented cases of abuse and torture in Afghani prisons. Amnesty says non-torture agreements, which rely on trusting Afghanistan, are worthless and will not absolve New Zealand from its obligations.

Last month, the Sunday Star-Times revealed that, according to international legal experts, New Zealand broke the Geneva Convention and laws against torture when SAS troops transferred 50-70 prisoners to the Americans at Kandahar.

Labour leader Phil Goff told the Sunday Star-Times last week that Afghanistan's government was "working hand-in-hand with warlords [who have] an appalling record of human rights abuses".

Meanwhile, a report by General Stanley McChrystal, America's top commander in Afghanistan, which was leaked to the Washington Post, has concluded that failing to quash insurgents within a year "risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible".

Goff said: "I think that General McChrystal has made a realistic assessment of the situation" a clear indication Goff thinks the Afghanistan war may be lost.

Former New Zealand diplomat Terence O'Brien said there was no evidence special forces would make a difference. "There's no assessment of what they're doing. It's all covered up under the rubric of security."

O'Brien said Key wanted to curry favour with the US, but could have done so without sending the SAS to Afghanistan. Committing to the current deployment was like being stuck to a tar baby. "We're in an absolute bugger's muddle now," O'Brien said. "We're there, and the question is, how to get out."

- © Fairfax NZ News