Kabul memorial honours Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan
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A memorial built to honour the Georgian soldiers who died while serving in Afghanistan has opened in capital Kabul today.
A special event marking the opening of the memorial took place at the NATO Resolute Support Mission (RSM) base. The ceremony opened with the Georgian national anthem.
Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli was in Afghanistan to attend the ceremony.
While in Kabul Khidasheli also met her Afghan counterpart and discussed the situation in the country.
"Today the situation in Afghanistan is not stable enough to predict that the mission here will end any time soon,” Khidasheli said, adding Georgian officials would however need to cooperate with NATO leaders about staying in Afghanistan longer.
Since 2010 Georgia – the largest non-NATO contributor to the Alliance’s peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan – has lost 31 soldiers while serving in the country.
The RSM, which follows on from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) campaign, involves 750 personnel of the Georgian Armed Forces.
A plane carrying the body of Georgian soldier Vasil Kuljanishvili has touched down on Georgian soil. Kuljanishvili’s body was met by members of his family and several officials at Tbilisi International Airport this afternoon.
One Georgian serviceman has been killed and another has been injured while on duty in Afghanistan. Both soldiers were part of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
A special memorial has been built at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan paying homage to a Georgian soldier who was killed last year while serving there in a NATO peacekeeping mission.
Sixty-four Georgian soldiers, who are currently serving in Afghanistan, will be awarded by the Ministry of Defence of Georgia for saving seven American soldiers.
The Alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hosted Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels this evening and told him of the Alliance’s plans for Georgia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s top naval commander has awarded a Georgian officer for his participation in NATO’s anti-terrorism mission.
Another unit of the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF) has successfully ended a seven month deployment within a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.
“We’re champions in fighting for world peace”
Georgia’s newly appointed Minister of Defence Levan Izoria has travelled to Afghanistan for his first official international trip to meet local officials and visit Georgian soldiers who are on a peacekeeping and security mission serving alongside NATO and EU troops.
Top US commander in Afghanistan Army General John Nicholson thanked Georgia’s contribution to military efforts in Afghanistan yesterday as a non-NATO member state.
The relations between Georgia and the United States are stronger today than ever before, says a top US military official.
Georgian Vice Colonel Irakli Chitanava, who commands the 1st Infantry Brigade of the 11th battalion of the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF) in Afghanistan, has awarded several American soldiers with the order of General Kvinitadze.