20 years in Afghanistan
Fifty nations forgot why they went there
It was 6am on September 12, 2001, when my phone rang and Gerry Brownlee said, ‘‘Turn on the TV, the US is under attack.’’
The Twin Towers had fallen. Later that morning we talked about what it meant. Was it like Pearl Harbour? We decided, no, in these circumstances international terrorists could not start a world war. But we knew the world had changed. New Zealand would have to stand with its traditional allies and partners.
Later that day, there was a special debate in parliament led by the deputy prime minister, Jim Anderton, standing in for Prime Minister Helen Clark, who was overseas. When Jim Anderton said,
‘‘New Zealand will stand with other democratic nations to do whatever is necessary to prevent and remove… the devastating scourge of terrorism,’’ I knew that New Zealand would be going to war.
Afghanistan was the base of the al Qaeda terrorists who had struck the US. The SAS were the first soldiers to go to Afghanistan. They were deployed in December 2001, a few days prior to the formal United Nations authorisation of force.
Over the next decade, the SAS were deployed to Afghanistan three times. Two of them lost their lives in 2011. Corporal Willie Apiata was awarded the Victoria Cross for rescuing a severely wounded comrade and carrying him to safety through intense machine gun and rocket fire.
The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was deployed to Bamyan Province in September 2003 and left in 2013 after 21 rotations. More than 3000 New Zealanders served in the PRT during those 10 years. In one terrible 10-day period in August 2012, five members of the PRT were killed. Over the 20 years, 10 New Zealand service people lost their lives in Afghanistan and many more were wounded.
Many have asked, was it all worth it?
As Minister of Defence between 2008 and 2011, I visited Afghanistan twice. I also recommended to Cabinet that the SAS should be deployed for their third deployment to help secure Kabul and to protect the PRT. The Operation Burnham Inquiry was held into how the largest SAS operation, intended to protect the PRT, was carried out, and how it was reported back to New Zealand, including the responsibility of myself as minister.
On my visits to Bamyan, I saw an impressive level of progress. Schools and health clinics had been built throughout the province. The provincial capital, Bamian, had a new hospital and polytechnic. The major centres were linked by new sealed highways and there was a new solar electric system. Elections were held. Lives were hugely improved.
But material prosperity was not a sufficient inducement for everyone. The Taliban insurgency became worse and worse, resulting in the death of eight members of the PRT between 2010 and 2012.
The 50 nations who committed forces to Afghanistan essentially forgot why they went in the first place. Jim Anderton had identified the key issue on the day of the attacks on the US, which was to defeat terrorism. Instead, the goal became to build Afghanistan into a modern state, on the basis this was the best way to defeat terrorism in the long run, that the terrorists would find no safe haven. It was a laudable goal. However, the past two decades have shown it is not possible to impose a new style of state upon a people without their virtually universal
On my visits to Bamyan, I saw an impressive level of progress. Schools and health clinics had been built throughout the province.
consent.
Yes, the material lives of the people of Afghanistan have been substantially improved, with hundreds of billions spent on infrastructure and improved social systems. Yes, there is a democracy of a sort. However, a substantial minority of the Afghan people have always wanted us gone and have fought for many years to send the international forces home.
New Zealand forces are leaving Afghanistan, as will most of the other international forces over the next 18 months. The original intention of ensuring Afghanistan is not a safe haven for international terrorists has largely been achieved for the time being.
In the recent peace agreements, the Taliban has accepted the importance of keeping Afghanistan free from international terrorists. However, the real proof will emerge over the next decade. Only then will we know if Afghanistan has been able to resolve its internal differences, and whether the wider world will be able to think about Afghanistan without a sense of anxiety.
Charlotte has never met the man who fathered her son. She knows a bit about him – general details like his age, ethnicity and height – but has no idea what he looks or sounds like; not that it matters.
Most important to the Wellington woman is how the unknown man helped her and her wife become the parents they waited for so many years to be.
‘‘He’s obviously a good person with a good heart, or he wouldn’t have done that for us.’’
Men like the one who helped Charlotte are in short supply in New Zealand, where a chronic shortage of sperm donors means would-be parents can wait years for fertility treatment.
Charlotte’s official waiting time was nearly two years, although it felt like forever. Initial attempts to use sperm donated by a close friend failed, as did plans to travel overseas for a donor, so the couple joined the waiting list at a fertility clinic.
‘‘I never expected it to take as long as it did... I’m in my early 40s so time was ticking. We’re so grateful that we received treatment and we got the child we wanted, but it took a toll.
‘‘Sperm donors do so much for families, and there’s just not enough men willing to do it.’’
New Zealand’s lack of donors is an issue that has gone on for decades and is only getting worse, Wellington Fertility Associates Medical Director Dr Andrew Murray says.
He points to the country’s small population and strict donor laws – including that once children turn 18 they are entitled to know who their donor is – as things that stand in the way.
‘‘The other part is at the moment the strict letter of the law is donors are not allowed to be compensated in any way for what they’re doing. Our view is that needs to be challenged.’’
About 160 babies are born each year from sperm donors through Fertility Associates, but that number could double if the clinic had the donors it needs.
Sperm donors fall under two categories: personal donors are known to patients, and are usually friends or family members; clinic donors are men willing to donate to the pool of clinic clients. Of the about 200 men who donate through Fertility Associates each year, 120 are clinic donors. About 350 are needed to meet the current need/waiting list.
While Murray says nobody wants donation to become commercialised, realistic and fair compensation could attract men to donate. Although many clinics will provide donors with a small gift card or taxi chits, that’s the limit to any recompense. ‘‘They do have to give up quite a bit of their time to go to appointments, counselling, have the general screening, all the scrutiny that comes with it, and ultimately these guys are doing an altruistic act.’’
The Human Assisted Reproductive Act that bans compensation for sperm donation was passed in 2004. ‘‘When you think about it a lot of work that went into forming this law is now 20 years old. Is this law still relevant to today’s values and needs?’’
In the meantime, Murray urges anyone willing to consider the altruism of being a donor to at least have a good think about it.
‘‘We would love to hear from more men... we would love to see more donors. It’s such an amazing gift to give someone.’’
Fertility treatment is a private and personal issue, so while patients and donors were happy to share their stories, they wanted to remain anonymous for myriad reasons.
One Auckland man currently in the donor programme was motivated, in part, to give back to members of the rainbow community who are sometimes excluded by men who get to choose who cannot receive their sperm. ‘‘There are a number of men who specify they don’t want their sperm used for lesbian couples. To me that seemed outrageous... I specified at least half the families my sperm went to had to be lesbian couples.’’
A firm belief in the importance of families meant the decision to donate was relatively easy, but the process is gruelling, he said.
After an initial meeting with a doctor, blood and genetic tests are run to rule out any detectable abnormalities. Medical and sexual histories are examined as well.
Counselling sessions for donors and their partners are also compulsory, and then, once the donation process begins, things get trickier still.
‘‘You can’t ejaculate for three days beforehand and, if you’re donating twice a week for two months, then that’s the only time you can ejaculate, which impacts things like your relationship. You end up planning your life around it,’’ the Auckland man said.
After the semen is collected, it’s stored for six months and tested again before it’s used.
As well as the testing, counselling and eventual donations, there’s also the future to think about.
While the men have no legal rights or responsibilities to any offspring born as a result of their donation, as soon as a child turns 18 they have the legal right to find out who their donor was.
The Auckland man has no problem with that, and has stipulated he’s open to contact from the time children are 12 years old.
‘‘They send an email every time a child is born... they can use your sperm for up to five families with three children per family so that’s potentially 15 children.’’
In his case, the sperm will be used for only four families, leaving him the option to be a donor for friends in future.
With his sperm not going into the ‘‘pool’’ until October, he can only speculate how he’ll feel when he gets that first email.
‘‘I don’t see it will have any great impact on my life, it’s just another interesting thing to talk about.’’
Repromed’s Medical Director Dr Guy Gudex says
New Zealand’s sperm donor shortage stretches back about 30 years, and an ever-increasing number of single women and same-sex couples seeking treatment has compounded the issue.
His clinic currently has a wait time of about 15 months.
‘‘The only exception to that is if you’re wanting or needing Indian or Chinese ethnicity it’s only about six months as we’ve got a few donors of those ethnicities and fewer people wanting them,’’ he said. ‘‘We have had one single Ma¯ ori clinic donor in the last 10 years. He got snapped up immediately.’’
The long-existing shortage has only been made worse by the coronavirus, because travel restrictions mean women can’t get overseas to access donors, and sperm that’s been paid for cannot be imported into NZ.
Those patients are now putting added pressure on local clinics.
Like Murray, he believes the ability to properly compensate donors would help increase numbers, and as NZ would unlikely ever follow The United States – where donors can be paid thousands – it would still fundamentally be an altruistic act.
Donor numbers improved in the United Kingdom when the law changed to allow compensation of up to £35 (NZ$68) per visit, with more available for childcare, accommodation or travel costs. ‘‘Formalising that donors can be recompensed a reasonable amount would certainly help in NZ.’’
Put simply, more sperm donors are needed, and they change lives.
‘‘It’s the most amazing gift you can give somebody. The World Health Organisation has said reproduction and having a child is an incredibly basic human right. For those who want children, not being able to have them has an incredible impact on their lives.’’
A Wellington man in the donation programme says that although the process can be taxing, it’s nothing compared to what a child means for someone. It was his wife who initially pushed for him to become a donor; their own family is complete, and, although it took him a little while to get used to the idea, he’s delighted he went ahead.
‘‘We get so much pleasure from being parents, and it was hard to think about people missing out on something I had really just taken for granted.’’ Two children have so far been born through the clinic he donated to.
‘‘It’s a nice feeling, but it’s not like being a father; it’s a feeling that you’ve helped people achieve something bloody amazing. ‘‘
‘‘We would love to hear from more men... we would love to see more donors. It’s such an amazing gift to give someone.’’ Dr Andrew Murray