Hungary’s Government Stays Firm on Afghanistan Policy

Afghanistan topped the agenda of the talks on the second day of the NATO Defence Ministers Meeting. The non-NATO member states contributing to ISAF, Afghanistan were also invited to the discussion which involved 50 nations altogether. ISAF wants to see the Afghan forces taking full responsibility for security by 2014, and it will assume a training and mentoring role after the transition in the Central Asian country.

The Afghanistan policy of the Hungarian government remains unchanged, Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende told the Hungarian press during the meeting. He informed journalists about the latest Hungarian mission in Afghanistan, a small group of mentors from Szolnok forming the Air Advisory Team. Placed under Italian command, the HDF AAT has been deployed to Herat Province since September to train Afghan pilots for flying Mi-17 helicopters. Csaba Hende noted that Hungary’s contribution to NATO-led operations in fulfillment of its allied commitments at once increases the territorial defence capabilities of our country as well, because the Hungarian troops serving with ISAF are going to see combat and learn many lessons.

During their meeting in Brussels, the Defence Ministers agreed that NATO should cut costs wherever possible, streamline its own system of institutions and promote Smart Defence by supporting more efficient defence spending of the member states. The reform of the NATO command structure will reduce the number of posts by 3000. Speaking about this goal, the Defence Minister noted that the same process has been under way in Hungary too. This year the personnel numbers of the Ministry of Defence, the HDF Joint Force Command, the affiliated institutions and certain subordinate organs are to be reduced by 3000. All these developments will not decrease our military capabilities – on the contrary, the streamlining shows the way ahead for strengthening the Hungarian Defence Forces, Dr. Csaba Hende said.

“The Hungarian Defence Forces are becoming stronger all the time and despite the problems with the budget and the financial crisis, the Hungarian government is determined to significantly increase the defence capabilities, Dr. Csaba Hende added. The Minister noted that the manpower of the HDF will increase by 4000, and the reintroduction of the Military Hospital in Budapest into the table of organization and equipment (TOE) will account for 3000 of that number. By attaining this goal the Hungarian Defence Forces will possess a full military medicine capability, the Minister stated and went on saying that this capacity of Hungary is going to contribute to reasonable cost sharing within NATO’s Smart Defence program. Dr. Csaba Hende expressed his hope that Hungary is going to receive 30 “half-cycle" UH-1 helicopters from the USA. He said these helicopters can fly disaster relief and MEDEVAC missions too. Talking about the steps to be taken to strengthen the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Minister noted that the new national public service university is going to be established in a few months, which will “put our national officer training on a new basis". Dr. Csaba Hende reasserted his goal of training 8000 volunteer reservists who will have been ready to do service by 2014 in Hungary.