New Zealand has become the latest nation to join the international coalition fighting ISIS, with Prime Minister John Key telling lawmakers Monday 143 military personnel were deploying to Iraq in a non-combat role.
In a two-year mission likely to start in May, New Zealand personnel will train Iraq security forces at the Taji Military Complex north of Baghdad, Key said. He said soldiers would provide protection for the training force.
Key said ISIS — also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — posed a threat to stability in regions beyond the Middle East and New Zealand had “an obligation” to help support the rule of law internationally.
“New Zealanders are prolific travelers and we are not immune from the threat ISIL poses,” he said in a statement. “ISIL’s brutality has only worsened and its outrageous actions have united an international coalition of around 62 countries to fight and degrade the group.”
Opposition leaders were quick to condemn the decision, which they said should have been debated and voted on in parliament.
Labour leader Andrew Little said his party was opposed to sending troops to Iraq and that it was unlikely they would remain behind the front line.
“The Prime Minister says they will be behind the wire but we know they will not be. They cannot stick there, they cannot stay there, that is not all they will do. They will not just be behind the wire; they will be exposed to the much wider conflict; it will not be just the soldiers we send to the Iraq, it will be Kiwis traveling around the world,” Little said.
Green Party Leader Russel Norman said Key was “dragging New Zealand into someone else’s war without a mandate” and was making the country and its citizens unnecessary targets for ISIS.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Key had made a “giant turnaround” since ruling out a troop deployment. “Nothing has changed in Iraq, except ‘his club’ persuaded Mr Key to commit our troops,” Peters said in a statement.
Key said the government had carefully considered New Zealand’s contribution to the coalition.
“A training mission like this is not without danger and this is not a decision we have taken lightly,” he said. “I have required assurances that our men and women will be as safe as they can practicably be in Taji.
The deployment came at the request of the Iraqi government and was likely to be a joint training mission with neighboring Australia, Key said. New Zealand’s cabinet would review the deployment after nine months, he added.