New Zealand Defence Force
Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa

Media Release

Wednesday 14 April 2004

New Defence Personnel For Afghanistan

Ninety six New Zealand Defence Force personnel depart Christchurch on Thursday for a six month tour of duty with the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan. The flight is scheduled to depart Christchurch at 7.30 am, Thursday 15 April 2004.

New Zealand first committed troops to the PRT in the Bamyan Province of Afghanistan in September 2003. The PRT has been making a significant contribution to the rebuilding of the Bamyan infrastructure including the recent reopening of the Bamyan University.

The PRT is designed to assist the Afghan Transitional Government extend its influence beyond Kabul, and promote reconstruction in Bamyan and assess civil, political and military reform efforts through community engagement.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>