The Hungarian Defence Forces Continue Their Engagement in Afghanistan
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu / MTI | 2015. január 6. 9:00The Hungarian Defence Forces continue their engagement in Afghanistan within NATO’s new Resolute Support Mission which started on January 1, the Ministry of Defence told Hungarian news agency MTI in the morning of Thursday, January 1.
On December 12, the Hungarian government adopted a decision which specifies Hungary’s contributions to NATO’s new mission. These include a Special Forces contingent, a Mi–17 transport helicopter Air Advisory Team, a National Support Element, a Force Protection platoon and officers delegated to commands on different levels – amounting to a total troop strength of around 100.
According to the Ministry, the participation of the Hungarian Defence Forces in the new NATO mission shows Hungary’s firm commitment as an ally and supporter of regional stability.
On November 11, ISAF recognized on its homepage „the contributions of Hungary, one of the more than 50 nations that provided support to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan from 2003–2014."
Since the end of 2001 – the removal of Taliban from power – the NATO-led ISAF has deployed in Afghanistan with a 100,000-strong international force to provide security there. The transition to Afghan security lead started in mid-2011.
With the termination of the ISAF operation at the end of 2014, Resolute Support has now been launched, which is a much smaller, 12,000-strong international mission. Having been developed and trained for years, the 350,000-strong Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are now taking over full responsibility for security in the Central Asian country.
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