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.