The Hungarian armed forces will send two Mi-17 helicopters and a 30-strong crew to Afghanistan in 2011, Defence Minister Imre Szekeres said on Tuesday.
The Hungarian armed forces will cooperate with other NATO member states to jointly provide the logistics required to transfer the helicopters, he said.
The focus of the Afghan mission will be changed next year, with more emphasis placed on training the local army. For this reason, NATO will send more staff officers and military trainers to Afghanistan, said Szekeres.
A 30-member contingent from Montenegro will soon join the Hungarian-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Baghlan province to participate in guarding the Hungarian base. The Hungarians who will have guarded the facility up to that point will be assigned to other tasks, he said.
The minister said, however, that the Hungarian army did not plan to deploy more troops in Afghanistan.
Szekeres said the Hungarian armed forces had defined its programme for involvement in international missions until 2016. Hungary will continue to focus on the Western Balkans and Afghanistan, but its personnel will continue to serve in the UN mission on Cyprus and on the Sinai Peninsula.
For the time being, about 1,000 Hungarian personnel are involved in missions abroad, said Szekeres.
Zsolt Nemeth (Fidesz), head of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that the main opposition Fidesz party continued to support Hungary’s involvement in the Afghanistan mission.
We should not support the warcrimes and terror of the New York -
Telaviv axis of evil!
Haha! They finally suspended my account on the nol.hu (nepszabadsag) after told the editor to go to hell after he openly trashed the 56′ freedom fighters in an article.
No money to feed the schoolchildren or treat the sick but there is money to kill Afghanis. What is going on?
@Tom
War is always a good business. Americans have learned this lesson
well at WWII. They always kept the business running ever since!