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Georgian, Afghan Defense Ministers Meet in Kabul

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania met his Afghan counterpart Bismillah Khan Mohammad in Kabul on August 10 and signed a memorandum of understanding between the defense ministries of the two countries.

Georgian military, according to the document, will share reform experience and provide training to the Afghan armed forces, the Georgian Ministry of Defense said.

“This is a very important document,” Alasania said after the meeting. “We officially laid foundations to our bilateral military cooperation. In Kandahar I saw how our military servicemen are providing training to the Afghan artillerists… and it will continue and our defense cooperation will become stronger. They need our support and the Georgian government expresses support to the Afghan government.”

During his visit to Afghanistan, Alasania met Georgian troops serving at the Camp Phoenix in Kabul and at the Kandahar Airfield. He also met outgoing commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan General Joseph Dunford on August 7.

Georgia currently has 755 soldiers in ISAF mission, down from its pick when Georgia had about 1,600 troops in Afghanistan.

In July Georgian troops ended their four-year long deployment in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand.

The Defense Minister told Georgian lawmakers in late July that Georgia would keep about 750 troops for NATO’s post-2014 non-combat mission in Afghanistan. He said that a company size unit would be deployed in northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif under the German command and rest of the troops would be stationed under the U.S. command in Bagram.

Death toll of the Georgian soldiers in the ISAF mission is 29 – all killed in action in the Helmand province.

435 Georgian soldiers have been wounded in action, 35 of whom are amputees, according to the ISAF.

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