The number of Slovak soldiers in Afghanistan will gradually decrease: on September 3, the Slovak parliament approved the Defence Ministry's plan to partially withdraw a portion of the 222 soldiers currently deployed in the country, the Sme daily wrote.
The consultancy team for D-30 howitzer, military officers training units of the Afghan National Army and members of the explosive systems removal team will leave, as well as the CSS MAT consultancy team and tow solders deployed to the provincial reconstruction team in Urizgan. The soldiers of the EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) team should be withdrawn by the end of December, the TASR newswire informed.
On the other hand, Slovakia will send five medical workers to Afghanistan in January 2014.
Currently, there are 222 Slovak soldiers in Afghanistan, within the International Security Assistance Force mission. All these changes stem from the international community’s strategy aimed at gradually handing over the leading role and security to local bodies and gradually reducing the number of NATO units, and its partners, in Afghanistan.
(Source: Sme, TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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