FM: Georgia to Send Troops to Afghanistan

Georgia will send a company-size unit to Afghanistan to contribute to the NATO-led forces, Grigol Vashadze, the Georgia’s foreign minister, who visits Poland, said on February 18.

“Georgia has taken a decision to send one company to Afghanistan; it will be our contribution to the tasks the alliance is trying to resolve in Afghanistan. As you know these are, first and foremost, the fight against terrorism, the fight against drug trafficking, and so on,” he told the Rustavi 2 and Imedi television stations.

50 soldiers and officers from the Georgian 16th Mountain Battalion were stationed in Afghanistan for 100 days in 2004 in conjunction with German forces. Georgia has been considering sending a larger contingent since 2007. The last time when the issue was publicly raised was in March, 2008, when then Foreign Minister, Davit Bakradze said that Georgia planned to send 350 soldiers to Afghanistan in late August, 2008. The plan has not materialized; moreover, Georgia had to recall its 2,000 troops from Iraq during the August war with Russia.

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