Armenia reduces the number of its peacekeepers in Afghanistan | artsakheng

Armenia reduces the number of its peacekeepers in Afghanistan and Kosovo

Armenia has reduced the size of its peacekeeping forces in NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan stated this in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"During the hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, we significantly reduced the number of our peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan from 121 to 58 troops and from 40 to 2 in Kosovo," he said.

As for the humanitarian mission in Syria, the minister noted that Armenia will continue its mission there. "Because the Syrian people today are in the forefront of the fight against global terrorism, and this is our duty. The fact that there are thousands of Armenian diaspora in this country is especially important. Our humanitarian mission, based on close cooperation with the Russian military, will certainly continue in Syria, and I must note that even after Azerbaijan's aggression against Artsakh last autumn, we did not suspend our peacekeeping activities in Syria,” the minister said.

Harutyunyan also added that Armenia participates in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with 33 troops, and also has one serviceman in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Mission to Stabilize the Situation in Mali (MINUSMA).
In early February 2019, the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced the dispatch to Syria of the first group of 83 Armenian specialists, which includes humanitarian demining specialists and medical personnel.

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