Kiwi troops in Iraq given 'mentoring role' but haven't 'extended beyond the mandate' - Ardern

February 12, 2018

A human rights campaigner has said changes to the role of Kiwi soldiers in Iraq should have been made public.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she's been advised New Zealand soldiers in Iraq have not extended beyond the mandate they were given, but she says a change was made that allowed our forces to provide a mentoring role.

Ms Ardern was responding to a report that since last year New Zealand troops have helped Iraqi forces plan and conduct military operations, moving beyond their mission to train Iraqi soldiers for the fight against ISIS.

Human rights campaigner and former hostage in Iraq Harmeet Sooden told Fairfax he has discovered that the New Zealand Defence Force's mandate now includes "advise and assist" and that Kiwi soldiers are training at camps beyond their base at Taji camp, without the public being told. 

Ms Ardern told reporters she's had "a very scant briefing" since seeing the reporting this morning of decisions of the past government about our troops in Iraq.

"And I have been advised that at least from the advice that the past government received, in their view they hadn't extended beyond the mandate that they were given," she said. 

Asked have the soldiers been training outside of camp Taji, Ms Ardern said she's advised that there was one camp, Qayyarah West Airfield, where training was able to take place but this was not made public at the time. 

"I'm told the rationale for that was security reasons at the time. And then in the future when an OIA was put in, the view was that it was no longer needed to be kept as secure information and so that's the point at which that information was then revealed," she said.

"I've also been advised that actually no training from New Zealand forces has actually occurred at that camp either," she added.

Asked if New Zealand soldiers have been "advising and assisting" other coalition forces operations and missions, Ms Ardern said she could only report on the advice she has been given today. 

"This Government has made no decisions relating to the nature of our deployment in Iraq. We've simply inherited the existing arrangements," she said. 

"What I've been advised is there was a change that allowed our forces within Taji, within the camps, to provide a mentoring role."

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