WELLINGTON, July 5 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is to extend its military presence in Afghanistan for another two years and increase the number of personnel there, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said Tuesday.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) commitment of trainers to the Afghan National Army Officer Academy had been extended to June 2018, Brownlee said.
"Since late 2013, the NZDF has contributed eight personnel to the academy to assist in building the capacity of the Afghan National Army," he said.
"In addition to the extension, Cabinet has agreed to a request for the number of personnel deployed to be increased to 10."
The NZDF personnel were doing a good job helping develop junior leaders of the Afghan National Army.
"To date, 1,651 troops have graduated from the academy since October 2013," Brownlee said.
The academy, led by Britain and situated just outside Kabul, formed part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces and institutions.
"NATO ministers have made a decision to sustain the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan beyond 2016," Brownlee said.
"This decision will allow New Zealand to stand alongside our partners in supporting stability in Afghanistan and countering the threat of international terrorism."
The mission was originally scheduled to run to the end of 2014, but in April last year the government extended it to the end of this year.
The NZDF said Tuesday that another 320 Afghan officer cadets had just completed a 12-month training program at the academy.
Afghan Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi had acknowledged the NZDF's contribution to the year-long training program at the graduation ceremony recently, said a statement from the NZDF.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Brown, the NZDF Senior National Officer in Afghanistan, said about 70 percent of the graduates were destined for the infantry and most would go straight to front-line units.
"Seven of the graduates are women. While that number may seem small by Western standards, it marks a big step for Afghanistan," Brown said.
Although women had served in the academy in the past, officer training was made available to them only recently, as part of the Afghan government's plan to increase the number of female soldiers and officers to 10 percent of the total force.
In April 2013, New Zealand troops left Afghanistan's Bamyan Province, where they maintained a camp and ran the provincial reconstruction team for 10 years.
Also Tuesday, Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced New Zealand would provide a further 2.8 million NZ dollars (2.02 million U.S. dollars) in funding for the Afghan National Police and the Central Prison Department.
"Afghanistan continues to face a number of serious challenges particularly around security and the maintenance of law and order," McCully said.
The latest round of funding took New Zealand's total commitment to supporting the Afghan National Security Forces to 11.3 million NZ dollars (8.14 million U.S. dollars).
