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Slovak Army Aims to Send 15-strong Training Team to Afghanistan
Friday 27 August 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, August 27 (TASR) - The Slovak Armed Forces aims to dispatch an operational training and liaison team under the Slovak flag to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, Chief-of-General-Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces Lubomir Bulik told a press conference on Friday.
Speaking after meeting Adjutant General, Maj. Gen of Indiana National Guard Martin R. Umbarger, Bulik said that the team is expected to feature 15 troops. The unit should join forces with soldiers from the U.S. state of Indiana and, probably, troops from Australia.
"I will definitely back having a joint training team with our partners from Indiana among our priorities," said Bulik, adding that documentation concerning the move is now being drawn up for Defence Minister Lubomir Galko.
Further possible commitments are now also under discussion, but Bulik was reluctant to provide more details.
Slovakia has a mandate of 315 soldiers in ISAF mission, with 306 troop currently deployed in Afghanistan. "Our intention, which has also been consulted with former top officials at the Defence Ministry, is to boost our contingent by 100 soldiers. They would operate at all levels in training of the Afghan national army," said Bulik.
As well as Afghanistan, Slovak troops are active in Cyprus, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and the Middle East.
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