Prime Minister John Key says a resettlement offer to Afghan interpreters applies only to those currently working with the New Zealand Defence Force in Bamyan province because they are the ones most at risk from the Taliban.
The Government has confirmed an offer to 23 interpreters and their immediate families to resettle in New Zealand when the provincial reconstruction team leaves Afghanistan next year.
But a former interpreter now living in New Zealand says other former interpreters still in Afghanistan have not received the offer and are frightened.
Mr Key says the former interpreters are eligible to apply, and their cases will be considered sympathetically, "but they won't have the straight fast track that we're going to see for the 23".
The Labour Party says the Government needs to be reasonable about helping all interpreters who have been loyal to New Zealand. Leader David Shearer says the former interpreters should be allowed to resettle here too.
Only 32 out of 5700 approved by US
Radio New Zealand's correspondent in Afghanistan, Ben Farmer, says thousands of Afghans are seeking protection once international forces withdraw from the country in 2014.
He says 5700 interpreters have applied for asylum in the United States, but just 32 visas have been approved.
The interpreters are not the only ones seeking protection. Thousands of young Afghans who have worked for the military also fear what will happen to them when international forces leave.
Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman expects most of the 23 being offered resettlement in New Zealand will take up the opportunity.
He says those who take it up will be offered the same resettlement programme as refugees, including six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Centre.
Dr Coleman says it's possible more interpreters than the original 23 could be settled here.
