Polish participation in the war in Afghanistan
The Poland's participation in the war in Afghanistan began in March 2002. The Polish Armed Forces took part in the Operation Enduring Freedom and are part of the ISAF Troops, in recent years, mainly in the Afghan province of Ghazni .
commitment
As of May 17, 2016, 40 soldiers of the Polish armed forces had died in Afghanistan.
A major military operation with Polish participation is:
- Operation Eagle Feather (Polish: Operation Orle Pióro ) June 12-18 , 2009
history
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , on November 22, 2001 , at the request of Prime Minister Leszek Miller , Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski ordered the deployment of a Polish contingent (Polish: Polski Kontyngent Wojskowy) of up to 300 soldiers in support of the US-led forces Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).
From March 16, 2002 to April 25, 2007, a total of ten Polish contingents were deployed in Afghanistan, each consisting of 100 to 180 soldiers. This Polish task force (Polish: Polskie Siły Zadaniowe ) was initially stationed at Camp White Eagle at Bagram Air Base in Parwan province . Her tasks essentially consisted of clearing mines, protecting Bagram Airport, building roads, bridges and similar infrastructure, and self-security. From 2004, when ISAF expanded its activities from Kabul to all of Afghanistan, Polish soldiers took on smaller tasks in many places. Soldiers from the special unit GROM were involved at times . Outside Afghanistan, for example, the Polish Navy took part in Operation Enduring Freedom with the multi-purpose support ship “Rear Admiral Xawery Czernicki”.
In September 2006, Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski announced that an additional 1,000 Polish soldiers would be stationed in the US-led Eastern Regional Command, mainly in eastern Afghanistan . This not only increased the number of Polish soldiers to a total of around 1200, but also brought more military material to Afghanistan, such as 35 vehicles of the KTO Rosomak type (including five MedEvac vehicles).
On August 16, 2007, a Polish patrol came under fire from the village of Nangar Khel. She shot back with a heavy machine gun and a 60mm mortar , killing six civilians and later killing two others in hospital from their wounds. Seven soldiers were tried in a Polish military tribunal. The trial began in February 2009, when Defense Minister Bogdan Klich testified in favor of the soldiers. On June 1, 2011, the soldiers were acquitted.
In October 2008, the Polish contingent took responsibility for the security of Ghazni province . Associated with this was the new name: Task Force White Eagle (Polish: Polskie Siły Zadaniowe ). 600 additional soldiers, four Mil Mi-24 combat helicopters and four DANA howitzers were relocated to Afghanistan for reinforcement . In the summer of 2009 the number of Polish soldiers rose again by 400 to over 2,000 soldiers plus a reserve of 200 soldiers.
Between April and October 2009 Poland had security responsibility for Kabul Airport , for which 70 soldiers were assigned.
With the change of contingent in April 2010, the number of Polish soldiers rose to around 2,600 in order to meet the new concept of training Afghan soldiers and police officers by means of “partnering”. CASA C-295 aircraft have also been stationed in Afghanistan for the first time .
In February 2011, President Bronisław Komorowski announced that Poland would begin a three-stage reduction in obligations in 2011, and then leave Afghanistan entirely in 2014.
Miscellaneous
There is a US-Polish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the city of Ghazni .
Web links
- Polish Armed Forces: Passenger Cars Afghanistan
- Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Afghanistan
- PRT Gazni weblog
Individual evidence
- ↑ icasualties.org: Poland
- ^ Order of the President of the Republic of Poland, November 22, 2001
- ^ Polish Navy: ORP "Rear Admiral Xawery Czernicki" - In ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQUI FREEDOM operations
- ^ BBC: Poland to boost Nato Afghan force.
- ^ FAZ: Attack on an Afghan village. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ WG Peace Research: Polish Army sees its honor saved.
- ↑ Reuters: Polish troops take charge of tough Afghan province.
- ^ Army Sustainment: Increasing and Sustaining the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, August 2010
- ^ ISAF: Troops in Afghanistan. ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 710 kB)
- ↑ ISAF: Difficult and demanding mission.
- ↑ xinhuanet.com: Poland to start troops pullout from Afghanistan this year.
