Sofia - Bulgaria would pull its troops from the
international military contingent in Iraq once its mandate expires at
the end of 2008, the army General Staff said Thursday.
'The mission of the Bulgarian contingent in Iraq will terminate at
the end of the year,' it said. The 155 Bulgarians - 120 soldiers and
35 support staff - would in that case return home on December 20.
The decision on the military contingent, which was downsized from
the more than 500 when it was sent to Iraq in August 2003, must be
made by the parliament in Sofia. Legislators must make that decision
before December.
Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin hinted at the possible withdrawal
of Bulgarian soldiers from Iraq on Wednesday.
'We are analyzing our presence (in Iraq), but believe that our
mission is largely accomplished,' Kalfin said after a conference in
Brussels on Wednesday.
It was not the first time the pullout has been discussed in Sofia.
Socialist Premier Sergey Stanishev promised to end the unpopular
mission in Iraq in his election campaign in 2005.
Despite Stanishev's pledge and the 13 casualties suffered in what
many Bulgarians feel is not their war, Bulgaria remained among the
staunch European supporters of US policy in Iraq and has kept its
troops there since August 2003.
Sofia has so far only downsized the contingent and moved it to a
safer location in Baghdad, where it oversees a facility for the
re-integration of convicts.
The Balkan country, which joined NATO in 2004 and the European
Union in 2007, is due to hold regular parliamentary elections in the
middle of 2009, at a date yet to be announced.
Stanishev has led a grand coalition with the conservative National
Movement party of former premier Simeon Saxe Coburg-Gotha and the
Movement for Rights and Freedom of ethnic Turks since 2005.
Under huge pressure from a new party, headed by the popular former
mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borissov, Stanishev and his allies have a few
weeks to weigh the effects of the Iraq decision not only on their
internal popularity ratings, but also on relations with the incoming
administration in Washington.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story