TopPoster . wrote:

By REUTERS

Skip to next paragraph WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland said on Thursday it would
send 1,000 new troops to join its existing 100-strong contingent in
Afghanistan in response to NATO calls for reinforcements to step up the
fight against Taliban insurgents.

The European Union's largest former communist state was the first to commit
more troops after NATO defense chiefs agreed over the weekend that they
needed to add to the existing 20,000-strong force in the country.

An alliance spokesman said on Wednesday that it could be weeks before
reinforcements were committed.

``Poland will increase its contingent in Afghanistan. We will send 1,000
additional troops from February,'' Defense Ministry Spokesman Leszek
Laszczak said.

``We know this will be a dangerous operation. Poland understands that NATO
will have to be more active in Afghanistan. We are well aware of that, and
that is why we decided to increase the size of the force.''

NATO nations currently have around 18,500 troops in Afghanistan with other
non-NATO countries contributing a further 1,500 to its International
Security Assistance force (ISAF).

Warsaw has been a major supporter of U.S.-led stabilization efforts in Iraq,
where it still has 900 of an original 2,500 troops in place.



--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous

Gloopy Poles still angling for the US work visas they thought they'd
get for going into Iraq. Mexicans are beating them to it. If they
weren't so dumb they'd be building infrastructure to equal at least
half of what Germany has. Tatarewicz