Bulgaria To Send More Troops To Afghanistan

Bulgarian troops

Bulgaria has a continuing commitment to help stabilise Afghanistan, and will contribute 70 more troops to the peacekeeping effort, Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov has confirmed. Mladenov spoke at the London conference on the future of Afghanistan.

Mladenov, who in his final days as defence minister was on a Kandahar base that was targeted in a missile attack, was one of the first called on to speak at the Lancaster House conference, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said.

In addition to a troop increase, Mladenov added that Bulgaria is ready to expand its contribution through its participation in the EU police force and its help training Afghanistan’s security forces.
 
The Sofia Echo reported that he underlined the importance of the commitment of the international community to achieve peace and stability in the region and to combat common security threats.
 
At the conference, major world powers pledged support for reconciliation in Afghanistan to include members of the Taliban and mapped out a strategy for handing over increasing security responsibilities to Afghan forces.
 
After a day of talks, consensus emerged on two main issues; trying to bring at least some members of the Taliban into the Afghan government fold, and strengthening efforts to get the Afghans to take over responsibility for their own security, the Voice of America reported.
 
At a closing news conference, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described 2010 as a decisive time and said the conference had delivered a unified strategy.
 
"I believe that 65 or 70 foreign ministers will leave today's conference very clear not just about the challenges in Afghanistan, but how they will be met first of all by the Afghan authorities critically with the support of the international community," Miliband said.
 
A process of reconciliation to include members of the Taliban is high on the agenda and was outlined by Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
 
"We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our less enchanted brothers who are not part of al Qaida or other terrorist networks who accept the Afghan constitution," Karzai said.
 
He said that he would convene a traditional peace council for the purpose.
 
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US welcomes the effort.
 
"We believe that a lot of the foot soldiers on the battlefield will be leaving the Taliban because many of them have wanted to leave, many of them are tired of fighting," Clinton said.
 
Clinton said what is needed are incentives to protect those fighters and allow them to re-integrate into society.
 
A special international fund has been set up to help facilitate the process. Miliband said pledges for $140 million were received at the conference for it.
 
The US and its allies have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan with more on the way. But with waning domestic public support for the war, foreign powers are eager to bring the conflict to an end.
 
"Afghanization" is part of that strategy, as outlined at the conference by UK prime minister Gordon Brown.
 
"Building up the Afghan institutions, the army, the police, civilian government, so that as they become stronger we can hand over to them the responsibility of tackling terrorism and extremism and our forces can start to come home," Brown said
 
Brown said he believes the process of handing over to Afghan forces, district by district, could begin later this year.