New Zealand should continue its deployment of troops in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Phil Goff said on Tuesday.
The New Zealand government will soon decide whether to extend the deployment of about 130 troops beyond September next year.
"We have been there since 2002, we were just the third country to go to Afghanistan to set up a provincial reconstruction team," Goff told Radio New Zealand.
"I believe very firmly in what our people are doing, what they are achieving, and I would like that work to go on."
About 120 troops, the majority of the New Zealand contingent, are part of a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan.
Goff said he would soon take the case to cabinet for a decision on whether the deployment should be extended.
The Taliban insurgency has worsened dramatically in recent months, with insurgents killing scores of foreign and Afghan troops in attacks and also intensifying a campaign of suicide and roadside bombings.
Goff said the New Zealanders were working in a relatively safe part of the country.