Official Letter from US Ambassador Confirms Support for Hungary

In her letter sent on January 24, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis stressed that “Security Cooperation is the cornerstone of our bilateral relationship. This relationship is based on shared values and a common vision of the security challenges of the 21st century. The Hungarian Defense Forces participate in operations and missions shoulder-to-shoulder with US forces in some of the most troubled areas of the world. It is in recognition of this fact that the Department of Defense proposed and Congress recently approved additional assistance in 2012."

This year’s support brings the total direct assistance that has been provided for the Hungarian Defence Forces since 2010, over the past three years, to over $30 million, thanks to the outstanding professional work of the Hungarian troops in Afghanistan. Similarly to the practice of previous years, Hungary is going to receive training and military equipment from the United States of America for the value of the funding. The US partners provide this support to help the specific training of Hungarian troops to deploy in the theatre of war in Afghanistan, in the form of a capability development grant. The types of equipment and training the Hungarian Defence Forces are going to receive from the US partners for the funding in 2012 are currently under discussion.

In the fiscal year 2010 the USA supplied equipment to support the HDF Special Operations Forces, whereas in 2011 it contributed to the development of the Joint Terminal Attack Control (JTAC) capability. This kind of allied support is crucial to sustaining and continuing the operational role of the Hungarian Defence Forces in Afghanistan.

(MoD Press Office)