Topic: Romania recalls 183 soldiers from Iraq, deploys more in Afghanistan

Team Infidel

Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 12 September 2006

BUCHAREST, Sept 12, 2006 (AFP) - Romanian President Traian Basescu on
Tuesday asked parliament to recall 183 soldiers from Iraq and send
reinforcements to Afghanistan, according to the presidency.

"Following requests from its partners in the coalition against terrorism,
Romania must reconfigure its military presence on foreign war theatres,"
Basescu said in a letter.

Romania is to recall 100 military policemen and 83 military engineers,
cutting its contingent in Iraq to 603.

Bucharest will deploy to Afghanistan "a medical team, a CIVIC (Civil and
Military Cooperation) team and a liaison officer," a total of about 10
people.

When he visited Afghanistan in August, Basescu said Romania was prepared to
deploy an extra battalion to reinforce the 560 Romanian troops in the
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The decision on the size of the battalion and the timing of its deployment
will be taken according to NATO requirements, the defense ministry told

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