After more than 12 years of military presence in Afghanistan, Romania starts to pull out its troops from that country. Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Defence Minister Mircea Dusa and Home Affairs Minister Gabriel Oprea took part, in Kandahar, in a ceremony marking the start of this process. Prime Minister Ponta thanked the Romanian soldiers for their courage. <\/p>\n
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Victor Ponta: \u201cIt is your sacrifice and courage that have made Romania a safer country and a partner respected by all its NATO members and allies. The 23 soldiers who lost their lives in mission will forever be Romania\u2019s heroes. As for the wounded, they will always need your solidarity and support. I want to tell all of you here, who will soon travel back home, that the duty of Romania and of the Romanian Government is to make sure your living standards improve. We are proud of you, we thank you and we\u2019re waiting for you to come home.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
An incident occurred during the ceremony, as the NATO military base in Kandahar came under a missile attack. The Romanian officials were whisked to bunkers in armoured vehicles. No one was injured and after tens of minutes the prime minister and the two ministers resumed their visit.<\/p>\n
2002 is the year when the first 600 Romanian soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan. Four years later, they were assigned the mission of maintaining security and stability in the southern province of Zabul, considered to be a stronghold of Islamist insurgents and consequently one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan. In 2011 another 1,800 soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan. Romania participated in operations in Afghanistan with 25,000 soldiers, who successfully carried out over 1,900 military and humanitarian missions. During 12 years of operations in this country, 23 Romanian military were killed in the line of duty and over 100 others were wounded. At present, some 2,000 Romanian military are still stationed in Afghanistan. Of them, only 200 will remain here to train the Afghan troops.<\/p>\n
The NATO troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan this year, a move that has increased concerns that violence could escalate in this poor country in which the Taliban continue to be a threat in spite of 12 years of international military presence.<\/p>\n
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