NATO urges Bulgaria to send to Afghanistan artillery trainers, air engineers

SOFIA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said here on Thursday that NATO needs in Afghanistan Bulgarian artillery trainers and an air maintenance team.

Rasmussen, who paid a two-day visit to Bulgaria ending on Friday, had on Thursday meetings with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and President Georgi Parvanov, where they discussed the situations in Afghanistan and in the Balkans, the NATO's future and the future missile defense system.

After the meeting with Borissov, Rasmussen told a joint press conference that during its six-year NATO membership, Bulgaria has demonstrated a strong engagement and a clear commitment and also contributed significantly to the Alliance's operations and " notably, of course," in Afghanistan.

There are currently 530 Bulgarian troops in NATO's Afghan mission.

"You have contributed significantly, your soldiers are doing a great job in Afghanistan, their efforts are highly appreciated," Rasmussen said.

However, the NATO secretary-general said the contribution to the Afghan army training team is also very welcome. "We need to make sure that the Afghans one day in the future can run their own country, can secure their own country and therefore we must develop the capacity of the Afghan security forces," he said.

He said he would encourage all allies including Bulgaria to look at offering more trainers for the NATO training mission in Afghanistan. "Even a small number of people can have a very big impact," Rasmussen said.

According to Rasmussen, NATO military authorities have forwarded a specific request to Bulgaria. "What we need and what we would like to see is contribution within artillery training and also an air maintenance team," he said.

Borissov said that Bulgaria as always "will be in unison with the Euro-Atlantic partners" and will send "even a small number" of military trainers to Afghanistan.

On their discussions on the situation in the Balkans, Rasmussen said that his goal is to see all countries in the Balkans integrated in the Euro-Atlantic structures, NATO and the European Union.

"For me, a dream comes true when we see all countries in the Balkans integrated in NATO and the European Union," he said.

Bulgaria with her relationships to all countries in the Balkans can play a "crucial political role" for the NATO integration of its neighbors, Rasmussen added.

Rasmussen also commented on the future NATO missile shield. He said the United States' missile defense system and the available missile defense systems of some European countries for the protection of deployed troops could be linked.

"We can develop an effective missile defense system which covers not only deployed troops but the whole population -- 900 million people at all NATO nations for a very low additional cost: less than 200 million euros over 10 years distributed among 28 allies," Rasmussen said.

"It's nearly nothing. And for that low cost we can get an effective protection against a real threat," he added.

He said for this reason he hopes the NATO summit in November in Lisbon will make missile defense an alliance mission.

"I hope we could also initiate cooperation with Russia in that respect," Rasmussen said.

Bulgaria, a former active member of the Warsaw Treaty, established diplomatic ties with NATO in 1990 and became its member in 2004.

Rasmussen is the fifth NATO secretary-general to visit Bulgaria. The first one was Manfred Woerner in 1991.

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