Poland To Press For Afghanistan Mission End In 2014

The bodies of five Polish soldiers killed in Afghanistan are repatriated, in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's president says he will press NATO leaders at an upcoming summit to stick to plans to end its military mission in Afghanistan in 2014, and for member states to offer financial support to the nation after troops have left.

Bronislaw Komorowski said Friday he will press for NATO to confirm U.S. President Barack Obama's plans for the withdrawal at the summit in Chicago from May 20-21. Poland has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and has been reducing its contingent.

Komorowski also said those giving any financial aid will face "tough decisions" as to whether the money should be spent on building security, or on civilian needs.

Comments

[Schoolgirl666]

09:37 PM on 07/25/2012

Let's see how Romney spins his desire to stay in Afghanistan longer than 2014 during his visit to Poland......Spin it, Mitt.

[Bentch]

06:26 AM on 05/20/2012

A lot of folks make fun of the Polish people and get downright cruel. Here is a good case where we should take a cue from them. Get out of Afganistan. There is nothing much more that can be accomlished there. No doubt we will continue with foreign aid - and thats fine but no more of our soldiers losing lives there. We will end up suporting a government that will control Kabul County and that's about all. The rest of the country will revert back to tribal rule.

[marine1942]

10:43 PM on 05/19/2012

This is Obama's war. Where is Jane Fonda, George Clooney, Alex Baldwin, Hillary Clinton, Spike Lee ??

[Ron D]

07:39 PM on 05/19/2012

Look it is very simple pullall colition troops back and bomb them into summision then send the troops back in to mop up thats the way to win this war we did it in Japan and we can finish this one to

[Ole Fart]

06:46 PM on 05/19/2012

This is no Polish joke.... BRING OUR BELOVED TROOPS HOME NOW!!!

[chainsawd1]

06:29 PM on 05/19/2012

Why wait until 2012, pull everyone out now and as some other posters have stated, let them kill themselves like they have done for centuries.

[runljm3005]

05:53 PM on 05/19/2012

I have been to the Middle East Several times, including Iraq 2004. The Middle Eastern Countries have 3 things. Camels, Sand and Oil. That's it! I learned a lot of lessons in Iraq. One lesson was that the USA will always be in the Middle East as long as we keep pulling up to the Gas Pump to fill up our cars and trucks. Now I am no tree hugging liberal, but that is a fact! Once we stop the need for their Oil, then we can pull out and let them kill them selves like they have for Millions of Years. Or Bomb them off the face of the earth.
Also, I crossed Paths with some of the Polish Military while in Iraq. They were good allies in Iraq. They have a lot to be proud off! Semper Fi!

[Bentch]

06:40 AM on 05/20/2012

I go along with you. The Polish people have been made fun of and pushed around by other Nations over many years. They have indured hardships we can't imagine. The Nazis murdered coutless Pols in WWII. The Russians stood by outside of Warsaw and let it happen. Then the Russians did'nt stop there but practacally eliminated all the officers of the Polish army by murdering them in the Katin Forest and tried to blam the Germans for doing it. The truth of that did not emerge til the fall of the Soviet Union. My Parents grew up within a few miles of the Polish border prior to WWI and had many Polish friends. They alway got along and never had any problems dealing with them.

[rocknhula]

03:36 PM on 05/19/2012

"Polish army pulls out of Afghanistan, can't find their way home, winds up in Chicago."

[reddog9]

04:22 PM on 05/19/2012

At least they are not getting killed and spending huge amounts of money and don't have any idea of what its all about and when it will end. Chicago has good beer and kilbassi. We should be so smart

[rocknhula]

07:44 PM on 05/19/2012

They did the same thing in WW2. Right before the German invasion of Poland, German high commander assured the Poles they would not invade. The Polish army pulled back from the corridor and the Nazis marched in. Yes, Chicago has some great Polish food.

[PostalFA]

05:03 PM on 05/19/2012

not funny at all. Guess you didn't notice the Polish soldiers casket. A little respect, please.

[rocknhula]

07:45 PM on 05/19/2012

Yes, one casket and, they're pulling out. Look how many soldiers it takes to carry this guy.

[reddog9]

09:47 AM on 05/19/2012

Makes me proud to have a Polish heritage. Finally someone with common sense. Wars must end sometime and now seems like the best time. Let the Afghans solve their own problems

[Bentch]

06:50 AM on 05/20/2012

Yes me too. I am of Polish and German Heratage and am proud of it.

[oceanwalker100]

09:46 AM on 05/19/2012

What a joke pull out in 2014 you could win a real war in two years It is how TIME to pull out .has not all these countries have debt because of these never ending money pits. The USA has spend billions on these wars and want to cut thing at home that people of the USA need .Maybe the leader ship in poland is wakeing up to this ever ending war .and the need at home.

[Bentch]

07:02 AM on 05/20/2012

I don't blame them one bit. They are feed up with pouring money and lives into a country that has never had a stable central government. The different tribes and factions have ruled this land for hundreds of years and we have this great idea they should be governed by a guy like Karzi ? He will end up being the ruler of Kabul County and thats about it. Where did all the money go so far? Do we have a few billion dollars worth of Schools-Roads-ect? I am talking about the Money handed over to Kabul - not the cost of the war. If you could get the coruption out of that god forsaken land you might get somewhere - and good luck with that. That will never happen. It is a excepted practice in most of these counties to bribe everyone to get things done. Millions and Millions of dollars unacounted for - do you hear of any prosecutions in regard to it - Hell no.

[DeceptionIsReality]

11:22 PM on 05/18/2012

Good

[screwitall]

09:49 PM on 05/18/2012

If it was as difficult to get into a war as it seems to be to get out. Maybe their would be a better chance of no war.

[psuffield]

09:48 PM on 05/18/2012

So now Obama leads our nation of "leftest and liberal wimps" and those of European "socialist wimps" to end the war without a victory but a "responseable end". WTH is a "responsible end"? To me it sounds like waving the white flag of surrender and another "walk away" from Afghanistan like we did in the 1980s.

I ask that you, my fellow Americans remember how we got into this war in Afghanistan to begin with. It began with 9/11. Far too much has been accomplished so far, at far too high of price (nearly 3,000 of our citizens died that sad day on 9/11/01) to let the momentum slip away just as the enemy is on its back foot. We ccannot afford to have some troop-contributing nations pull out their forces on thier own timeline in way that undermines the entire mission and puts the rest of the alliance at risk.

[DeceptionIsReality]

11:26 PM on 05/18/2012

Bin Laden is dead Al-Qaeda isn't the Taliban. It would seem Al-Qaeda has taken their show to Yemen and Somolia. Trying to fight ghosts with conventional armies costs more than its worth. Special forces and drone attacks cost a lot less in blood and treasure.

[jdbreeze1]

11:39 PM on 05/18/2012

Last I checked, bin Laden was dead. We accomplished what we went in there to do (and would have done so a lot sooner if we hadn't gone into Iraq). It's past time for us to get out.

[Deyan Ranko Brashich]

09:01 PM on 05/18/2012

If there was a universal draft, without reservations as to sex, religous beliefs &tc. and even age [how about 40 year old men and women being forced to serve and not just hapless teenagers who are allowed to fight & die, but not drink], the world would not indulge in a continuing state of war.
Title: THE DRAFT IN TIMES OF PEACE AND WAR
Link:
http://deyanbrashich.com/home/2012/3/23/the-draft-in-times-of-peace-and-war.html

[richarant]

08:50 PM on 05/18/2012

They have more brains than we do, though that's not a rare thing.