More Georgian soldiers leave for Afghanistan

The next wave of soldiers from the Georgian Armed Forces has left Georgia and are on their way to Afghanistan to serve in a peacekeeping mission.

The 4^thMechanised Brigade will serve in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif under the German command as part of NATO-led new mission Resolute Support.

The 100-strong battalion Company of the 4^th Mechanised Infantry Brigade has already left to serve abroad.

Earlier today the soldiers attended a farewell ceremony at the base of 4^th Mechanised Brigade, which was attended by Defence Minister Mindia Janelidze, Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze, Defence Attaché of Germany Bernard Hop, military representative of the NATO Liaison Office Maximilian Eder and military attachés of NATO member states.

At the ceremony, Janelidze addressed the servicemen, thanked them for their service and wished them success in pursuing their goals. He noted that Georgian soldiers had the ability to fulfill military tasks to a high, professional standard alongside NATO member nations.

"Firstly I want to express my gratitude to every officer, sergeant and soldier for their work. I also want to thank everyone who was involved in the preparation process, because today we have a company that is capable of conducting high level military operations,” he said.

"This mission involves great trust, great responsibility and I am confident that our soldiers will deal with the responsibility at the highest level,” the Defence Minister announced.

Janelidze also noted that everyone should remember that by participating alongside global forces in various international missions, the Georgian servicemen were also protecting their homeland.

"We should all remember that participating in international missions, providing international peace and stability, is itself a service to our country and protection of our state because Georgia is a part of the civilized world. World peace and stability is a state to which Georgia has been contributing and will contribute again,” he said.

The Georgian troops have spent the past 13 weeks in Georgia preparing for the mission. They also underwent a 5-month training program in Germany, which ended in November.