Bulgarian troops deploy to Afghanistan

Bulgaria will send on Thursday its 21st contingent to Afghanistan.

The new unit will participate in an ISAF mission in Kabul. A total of 90% of the contingent's 165 soldiers have already participated in missions. The contingent includes 13 women and will be commanded by Svetoslav Godinov, company commander of the Bulgarian 38th Infantry Battalion.

Currently, a total of 600 Bulgarian soldiers and medical staff are currently stationed in Afghanistan in Kabul and Kandahar.

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Bulgarian troops return home

Bulgarian soldiers

About 200 Bulgarian military personnel returned from deployment in Afghanistan on February 22 2011, and were greeted at Sofia Airport by Defence Minister Anyo Angelov, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry said.

The soldiers had been deployed at Kabul Airport. Additionally, there are several teams of army medics who served in the French field hospital, also in Kabul, as well as the Spanish field hospital in Herat and the multinational field hospital at Kandahar Airport, the report said.

 

Together with the troops, Colonel Veselin Tsekovski, commander of the Bulgarian contingent and Captain Nikolai Nikolov, also returned home.

The troops were deployed to the war-torn state on a rotation basis. Their withdrawal was compensated by the deployment of 200 solders on February 2 2011, from the Fourth Company, Fifth Mechanised Brigade, from the north Bulgarian city of Pleven.

Since 2001, Bulgaria has sent more than 3000 troops to Afghanistan.