Finland to send more troops to Afghanistan next summer

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence are prepared to increase the number of crisis management troops in Afghanistan considerably next year, some official sources have reported to Helsingin Sanomat.
     
According to plans, the number of peacekeepers to leave for Afghanistan at the beginning of next summer to safeguard the country’s presidential election could be more than 100, or at least several dozens of soldiers.
      The decision means that Finland would temporarily more or less double its participation in the NATO-led ISAF peacekeeping operation.
      The supplementary troops would stay in Afghanistan for at least four months, operating in Northern Afghanistan, in the area of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, together with the other Finnish troops.
     
At the same time, Finland and other countries taking part in the crisis management in Afghanistan will be targeted by pressures even stronger than before to increase their long-term input, the official sources reported.
      The European countries are expected to show support for Barack Obama’s new administration, which is to be sworn in in January.
      At present, a total of 80 Finnish peacekeepers are taking part in the ISAF operation, while another 20 or so are involved in support operations.
      With the planned increase in its forces in Afghanistan, Finland will have a minimum of 150 crisis management troops in the area next year.
     
Because the preparations of the decision are still under way, neither civil servants nor political sources were willing to reveal their names in connection with the issue of supplementay troops.
      President Tarja Halonen and the cabinet’s foreign and security policy committee determined already in mid-November that more troops would be sent to Afghanistan for the period of the presidential elections, but the decision on the number of troops is not set in stone as yet.
      According to the government’s earlier reports, the focus has been on civil crisis management, and the starting point has been that Finland’s military input should decrease rather than increase in the course of time.
      Finland has never previously sent temporary supplements of a definite duration to its ISAF troops, but several other countries have done so repeatedly.
     
According to General John Craddock, NATO’s supreme operational commander, all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as the other countries taking part in the ISAF effort should bear in mind that for example around 7,000 polling stations will have to be kept safe during the presidential elections in September.
      Over the last few months, the ISAF forces have had difficulties when trying to safeguard even the everyday life in the most violent parts of the country, namely in Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.
     
At NATO’S January summit, Finland should be able to give at least a preliminary estimate of the quantity and quality of its planned supplementary troops.
      However, the decision-making in Finland will take some time, as a hearing on the issue of supplements will have to be held for the Foreign Affairs Committee, or alternatively a report on the matter will have to be compiled and submitted to the committee.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish commander optimistic about progress in Afghanistan (15.10.2008)
  President Halonen: NATO wants more Finns in Afghanistan (4.4.2008)
  NATO measures could cut military presence in North Afghanistan where Finns operate (29.2.2008)
  Finnish peacekeeper killed in Afghanistan (23.5.2007)

Links:
  Official ISAF site
  ISAF (Wikipedia)