A defence analyst says New Zealand should reject a request by the United States to pay back years of free dining by Kiwi personnel in Afghanistan. Coalition partners in Afghanistan received US$6.3 million (NZ$8.8m) of dining services between January 2016 and September 2019 from contractors for which they were never billed. Stuff-co-nz Defence analyst Paul Buchanan says New Zealand should reject the "vindictive" request by the United States to repay years of free dining in Afghanistan. He said if New Zealand had signed contracts to pay the US forces in Afghanistan for dining services then it should honour the agreement. White House Photo by Pete SouzaSupport agreements with coalition partners in Afghanistan were typically budgeted for and involved the NZDF paying invoices on receipt, the spokesman said.

Source: Stuff July 02, 2020 03:26 UTC