According to the decision, which was presented by Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic, by the summer of 2006 Croatia will have about 150 military personnel serving within the ISAF mission. Fifty Croatian military police have been present in Kabul for the past two years, rotating on a six-month basis.
Already this August Croatia plans to send four medical officers, who would be joined by a 83-strong infantry company in February next year. They would be followed by about ten logistics support officers and two or three military experts.
Roncevic said that the present, 50-strong Croatian contingent was not enough in view of expanding peace operations in Afghanistan.
The defence minister said that Croatia's participation in the Afghanistan peace mission showed that it was a reliable partner that could meet all security challenges and indicated its commitment to the objectives of the anti-terrorist coalition and its desire to join Euro-Atlantic institutions as soon as possible.