BRATISLAVA/KANDAHAR, December 16, (WEBNOVINY) — On Wednesday, President Ivan Gasparovic and Defense Minister Lubomir Galko (SaS) paid a brief visit to the ISAF military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan on the occasion of upcoming Christmas holidays. Slovakia has extended the mandate of its forces at the Kandahar military base in Afghanistan. Slovak troops will from now on not only do guard the gates, but they will also work outside the base. Thanks to the expansion of the mandate, Slovak military engineers will get also approximately 300 meters behind the fencing of the military base, said Lt. Col. Peter Svrlo, new commander of the Slovak contingent in Afghanistan. Moreover, Slovaks are in charge of the busiest entry control point to the field ECP-5, through which 60 percent of traffic enters the base. They have already checked approximately 150,000 people and nearly 20,000 trucks. In addition to dangerous items, they also have to detect diseases and drugs. The guard unit has 165 people on the base, including commanders. All of them work in twelve-hour shifts. 117 are on duty every day.
Slovak military engineers provide de-mining within a 30 cm depth from the surface. Slovak Defense Minister Lubomir Galko, who visited the Slovak troops in Afghanistan together with President Ivan Gasparovic on Wednesday thanked the “entire political spectrum” for approving the proposal to widen the mandate of Slovak troops in the country. At present, 314 members of the Slovak Armed Forces are serving in Afghanistan, while their number should increase to 348 in the fall.
The tabloid NOVY CAS reported on Thursday that journalists representing three most influential media in Slovakia were expelled from the delegation accompanying the two state representatives to Afghanistan a couple of hours before the planned takeoff. The crews were to accompany Defense Minister Galko on his trip to the combat zone. The daily speculates whether the reason behind it was to prevent that the minister’s activities shadow activities of the rest of the delegation.
SITA