Warsaw - Polish and US officials signed a deal Thursday
designed to increase cooperation between Polish and American special
forces in their fight against global terrorism.
Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich and US Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates signed the memorandum of understanding on the sidelines
of a NATO meeting in Krakow.
Klich called the memo a 'milestone' on the road to strengthening
Polish special forces in modern operations.
'I think the value of this agreement will be shortly tested out
during operations in Afghanistan,' Klich said.
Klich said the Poland-US partnership was evidenced by both
fighting alongside in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Poland's defence ministry kept its mission in Afghanistan despite
budget cuts caused by the world financial crisis.
The country currently has nearly 1,600 soldiers as part of NATO's
55,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan. Klich said Thursday that no troop increases were
foreseen by his country, despite calls to this effect by the US.
'We are not considering sending more troops to Afghanistan,' Klich
said.
Gates said the memo would 'expand and deepen' cooperation between
US and Polish troops.
In a separate deal signed in August, the US pledged military aid
to Poland in exchange for its acceptance that it host anti-missile
shields on its territory.
The shield, which the US says is designed to defend the US and its
allies from rogue states such as Iran, has sparked anger in Russia,
with Moscow claiming the system is aimed at its nuclear arsenal.
US President Barack Obama has since said that he supports the
missile shield in principle, but only if the technology can be shown
to be effective.
USA
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