After his meeting with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor in Zagreb on Friday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference that the alliance highly appreciated Croatia's contribution to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, and praised Croatian troops for doing excellent job.
Rasmussen, who arrived in to Zagreb for his first visit since Croatia joined NATO in April 2009, said the goal of the NATO mission in Afghanistan was to train Afghan forces and enable them to take over the responsibility for safety and security of their country.
It is our goal to transfer responsibility to the Afghans when circumstances allow, and therefore it is critical to train the Afghan security forces to gain required capacity, NATO's chief told the news conference he held together with PM Kosor.
We highly appreciate the Croatian army's participation in the mission in Afghanistan. Croatian soldiers are doing an excellent job, this Danish politician said.
Kosor added that Rasmussen's visit coincided with the voting in the Croatian parliament on the enlargement of the 300-strong Croatian contingent in Afghanistan by another 20 troops.
On Friday, Croatian lawmakers decided on the contingent's augmenting to 320 troops.
"During the talks with Rasmussen, I have pointed out that three Croatian units are participating in the training of the Afghan army and another two in the training of the Afghan police," the Croatian premier said.
"The NATO Secretary-General and we in the government agree that no effort should be spared to strengthen the Afghan army and police in order to enable them to operate on their own," Kosor said.
Rasmussen said he was particularly glad he was visiting Zagreb at the time the Croatian parliament was deciding on the enlargement of the Croatian contingent in ISAF.
This bears witness to the Croatian government's strong commitment to NATO, he added.
