Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
SOFIA, Oct 7 (AFP) - Bulgaria said Friday it would postpone pulling its 380-strong troop contingent out of Iraq until after general elections there in December.
"We will stay until December 15 and begin to withdraw after (that date). In this way we will still respect the decision of parliament to begin pulling troops out before the end of the year," Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov told reporters.
The actual pull-out scheme and other particularities will be discussed during talks between President Georgy Parvanov and his US counterpart George W. Bush in Washington on October 17, he added.
Bulgaria's parliament decided in May to maintain its military presence in Iraq not longer than December 31, the pullout had been expected to begin in mid-October.
But both the United States and the new Iraqi government in September asked that the Bulgarian soldiers remain in Iraq during the referendum on the constitution on October 15 and the general elections two months later.
Even after complete withdrawal of its troops stationed near Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, Bulgaria will not abandon its engagements to the stabilization process of Iraq, Bliznakov said Friday.
Bulgaria has lost 13 soldiers and six civilians in Iraq since it joined operations there in December 2003.
"We will stay until December 15 and begin to withdraw after (that date). In this way we will still respect the decision of parliament to begin pulling troops out before the end of the year," Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov told reporters.
The actual pull-out scheme and other particularities will be discussed during talks between President Georgy Parvanov and his US counterpart George W. Bush in Washington on October 17, he added.
Bulgaria's parliament decided in May to maintain its military presence in Iraq not longer than December 31, the pullout had been expected to begin in mid-October.
But both the United States and the new Iraqi government in September asked that the Bulgarian soldiers remain in Iraq during the referendum on the constitution on October 15 and the general elections two months later.
Even after complete withdrawal of its troops stationed near Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, Bulgaria will not abandon its engagements to the stabilization process of Iraq, Bliznakov said Friday.
Bulgaria has lost 13 soldiers and six civilians in Iraq since it joined operations there in December 2003.