Situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, Slovakia sends more troops

Slovakia will increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan; furthermore, these troops will gradually be able to take part in military operations. That was the plan presented at the end of 2009 by the former Slovak Minister of Defence Jaroslav Baška. Slovakia will thus join the countries willing to contribute to ISAF mission more despite deteriorating security situation on the ground.

Although the partners within NATO reassessed the strategy for Afghanistan several times in last months, the number of coalition casualties has risen to the level from the onset of the conflict in 2001. The incapability of the national Afghan police and army to maintain control over already safe regions, proofs of voting fraud in the last year´s presidential election and the plan of the Afghan president Hamid Karzai to negotiate the peace for his country with Taliban were discussed by experts in scope of the first day of the fifth year annual security conference GLOBSEC 2010.

Stephen Flanagan of the Washington´s Center for Strategic and International Studies, Francesc Vendrell, former Special UN and EU Envoy for Afghanistan, Jennes de Mol, Director of the Provincial Reconstruction Team acting directly on the ground in Afghanistan and Abdul Jalil Ghafoory of the Afghan Embassy in the US discussed the solutions to the Afghan problem in scope of the conference on Monday afternoon.

The GLOBSEC 2010 conference, organized by the Slovak Atlantic Commission in cooperation with the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, European Commission Representation in Slovakia and NATO Public Diplomacy Division, is mainstreamed live through the conference website www.globsec.org.

Bratislava, 13.9.2010

Slovak Atlantic Commission

More information on www.globsec.org.