We welcome Croatia's decision to maintain and ultimately increase its contingent in Afghanistan, and highly appreciate the contribution being made by the Croatian troops in Afghanistan, the spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of European Affairs, Chase Beamer, told Hina.
Participating in the International Security Assistance Force since 2003, the Croatian soldiers are helping the democratically elected government and the people of Afghanistan to build a future free from the repression, terror and depravity they have experienced over the past decades, Beamer said.
He said that Croatia was a unique country in terms of how fast it had developed from a country that had international peacekeeping forces in its own territory to a country engaged in maintaining the peace and stability in so many places round the world.
The increase of the Croatian contingent will be of great help to NATO in achieving its goal of promoting long-term stability in Afghanistan, Beamer said, adding that by pursuing its democratic and defence reforms, Croatia had gone a long way towards NATO membership.