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Poland wants to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan
Published: 02 September, 2010, 22:00
Edited: 08 September, 2010, 20:01
Afghanistan, Kabul : Afghanistan-based Polish soldiers at Kabul International Airport on April 11, 2010. (AFP Photo / Shah Marai)
(22.1Mb) embed videoTAGS: Military, NATO, Politics, Afghanistan
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has complained that the mission in Afghanistan costs Poland $1 billion annually, and asked NATO to define plans to start withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Poland currently has more than 2,500 troops engaged in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
Komorowski, who in his presidential election campaign promised that the Polish military will leave Afghanistan in 2012, said on Wednesday that the cost of the mission was hampering the development of the Polish army, and called on allies to start exiting the country.
However, the president’s initiative should not be exaggerated, says Philip Ilkovsky of the Polish Stop the War Initiative.
“I really do not believe that President Komorowski is the kind of pacifist who will do it very quickly,” he said.
“Polish troops are still in Afghanistan. This same President Komorowski this year sent additional troops to Afghanistan, and we have altogether 3,000 Polish troops in the contingent and more than 2,500 actually fighting in Afghanistan,” he added.
According to Ilkovsky, the war is extremely unpopular among the people of Poland, and this is one of the main reasons Komorowski is discussing the possible pullout.
“About 80 percent of the Polish population is against the Polish involvement in the war in Afghanistan,” he said.
What Komorowski is trying to do, Ilkovski said, was pull some troops out of Afghanistan but at the same time keep the war going – which is very similar to what President Obama is trying to do in Iraq, he added.
The news came days after the United States started pulling its troops out of Iraq, fulfilling President Obama’s election pledge.
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All nations should pull their troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. If the Americans want to brutalize and terrorize the peoples of those countries, let them do it by themselves. Why should other nations give the Americans a fig leaf of legitimacy for their unwarranted invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
First: Afghanistan war is unlawfull..It was exuse to (among other reasons) to project millitary power and have a foothold in this part of the world for some states.It will never be a total pull out of troops-at least not for Usa. Nevertheless, war will go on till last soldier(eventualy) leave this land. It was a total waste of lifes on both sides and also waste of money from many states who miss priority-it should spend all of this money to improve standard of their own population.By the way, states around the world spend about 3 BILLION A DAY for millitary purpose!!! War hurts all states involved and talks about pull out is sign how bad is situation on ground(73% of land is under taliban control) without any chance to change that becouse time work against coalition forces..For talibans and all Afghanis, coalition forces are invaders and fight against them will continue for ever-till the last of them leave. Before even started, this war was lost....I welcome pull out of all troops from Afghanistan-it will save lifes on both sides and money to. Some states did pull out and I hope Poland will do the same soon...Thanke you
How ironic is it? When Soviet Union went to Afghan, they did not drag Warsaw pact members into their mess.Now that Eastern Europe is "free" from the oppressive control of Moscow, A Lot of their boys and girls are serving and dying in afghan for NATO. Guess control for sake of empire building is more dangerous then control based on an ideology when it comes to does been controlled. USA should have taken an example from the "evil empire" when clean up their own mess. don't pull others into it.