A British soldier from the NATO sits guard on an
armored vehicle in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on July 23,
2006. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>
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BEIJING, Sept. 14
(Xinhuanet) -- Poland will send an additional 1,000 troops to join the NATO
peacekeeping force in Afghanistan in response to NATO's call for reinforcements,
said its defense minister.
"As of February next year, over 1,000 Polish soldiers
are going to be serving in Afghanistan," said Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw
Sikorski Wednesday evening in Washington, according to media reports.
"It will be a mechanized battalion that will be
stationed at Bagram, where 100 of our soldiers are. We are going to take part in
operations primarily in the eastern part of Afghanistan."
Polish defense ministry spokesman Leszek Laszczak
said, "Poland will increase its contingent in Afghanistan. We will send 1,000
additional troops from February."
The soldiers will do a one year tour of duty,
starting February 2007, Laszczak added. He also said a Polish general will
become a deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force(ISAF).
Last week, leading NATO military commanders called
for 2,000-2,500 additional soldiers to plug shortfalls in the alliance's force
in Afghanistan, which has met strong resistance from the resurgent Taliban
guerrillas along Afghanistan's southern border.
But a NATO spokesman said on Wednesday member
countries had failed to respond to the military commander's call for
reinforcements.
NATO nations currently have around 18,500 troops in
Afghanistan with other non-NATO countries contributing a further 1,500 to the
ISAF.
The alliance has asked for the soldiers to be
available immediately, and it was not clear whether the Polish contribution
would plug the gap.
Sikorski and Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski
are in Washington for talks with U.S. leaders.
The country is the first to commit extra troops to
the NATO force. It also has around 900 soldiers stationed in Baghdad. Enditem
(Agencies)
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