Posted on 08/16/2007 1:12:59 PM PDT by lizol
How dangerous is Afghanistan?
16.08.2007
After the Polish forces suffered their first fatality in Afghanistan, Poles back home start to wonder how dangerous it for the army there.
Agnieszka Bielaqska reports
Poland suffered the first loss since joining the NATO led force in Afghanistan on August 14. A Polish soldier was killed when a his troop came under fire from unknown assailants.
A military salute bade farewell to 28 year old Lukasz Kurowski, during a mass in the Warsaw cathedral on August 15th , celebrating the Polish Army day. Second Lieutenant Lukasz Kurowski was taking part in a joint patrol of NATO troops and Afghan army when his Hummer vehicle came under fire , some 20 kilometers from the Polish base in Gardez. Kurowski was injured and died in hospital. Poland's defence minister Aleksander Szczyglo said that the yong soldier died in the line of duty and underlined that the mission in Afghanistan is a very dangerous one
“Afghanistan is a country where soldiers of different formations, among them Polish troops fulfill a very difficult and dangerous task.”
Major Wojciech Luczak from the military magazine Raport points that the aim of the mission is obvious and it carries great risk with it
“This is not a peaceful or peace enforcing mission. It is not a stabilising mission, this is in fact a battle mission. Because it is a real war and not the war with Taliban, what the majority think, but a war with gangsters, drug traffickers who defend their territory. Polish soldiers will be targets in such hunts, they are a new force.This is a country without any roads. The only one, leads from Kandahar to Kabul and this is the Polish task to guard this road which is a difficult task. The road is very long and the surroundings wild.”
Doctor Piotr Balcerowicz from the Oriental Studies faculty at Warsaw University says that the mission in Afghanistan is becoming more difficult due to their growing resentment of the Afghan population towards the foreign troops. Initially accepted , now the NATO forces often met with hostility
“Some two years ago the Afghani population saw the foreign troops as forces which are helping to rebuild their country. This has unfortunately changed lately , and the increasing hostility is primarily due to the large number of casualties among civilian population.”
Major Wojciech Luczak points that the Polish troops stationed in Afghanistan face completely different realities
“This is not Iraqi mission, in Iraq Polish soldiers are safe in their fortified camps. In Afghanistan they are not safe in the camps which may come under attack. It is a difficult country , the weapons are contemporary but the people are like form Medieval times with the landlords fighting for power, animosity between tribes and families with vendetta all around so it is not easy. What is the future? Afghanistan definitely needs economic support, not only money but support how to use it.”
Despite the difficulties Poland has increased the Afghanistan contingent to 1200, however the circumstances and the tragic death of the young soldier give rise to questions how necessary in Polish presence in Afghanistan. Major Wojciech Luczak
This is a question of NATO credibility. Poland bet all the money on security under NATO, so if NATO were to fail in Afghanistan and the Taliban forces, or the drug traffickers or the powerful landlords were to enter Kabul and dethrone president, it would mean the end of the credibility of NATO and in the alliance Poland put its trust. NATO is necessary for Polish security and this is why we serve in Afghanistan.
Poland is part of the 36,000 strong NATO run International Security Assistance Force, and Polish unites are also stationed in southern Afghanistan as part of the separate US led force which is hunting down insurgents....
After all the dead Poles fighting to stave off the invasion of 1939 but in vain, and one casualty in Afghanistan is an angst worthy event: has Euro-weinieism engulfed the whole continent?
You mean serving in the military could be dangerous? Who’d’ve thunk it?
Oh, man! I'd better cancel that vacation to Kandahar I had planned.
Dammit!
It may have, but Poland seems to be a more loyal friend to us than most European countries lately.
and the crazy thing about that is that Polish people still have such a pain in the ass time getting Visas to come to the USA.. I work with a few Engineers from Poland and they go through the wringer to get here to the USA... doesn’t seem right...
So is someone suggesting I change my vacation plans to Hawaii instead of Afghanistan?
From 2005 article by Peter Baker, who has been covering Afghanistan since the US ousted the Taliban.
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