Sweden reinforces troops in Afghanistan

Sweden is sending an additional 100 soldiers to northern Afghanistan as well as increasing its development aid, the government decided Thursday. But the Swedish troop lacks heavy fighting vehicles.

At present there are 400 Swedish soldiers in the NATO-led Isaf forces. Together with Finland, they are respon- sible for the security of a large portion of northern Afghanistan. The number of Swedish soldiers will increase to 500 in 2009 and a transport plane will be moved from Dubai to Afghanistan. Swedish military advisers will be put at the disposal of the Afghan army. There will also be ambulance helicopters even if the delivery is delayed.

The Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) has received a new mandate to implement a new aid strategy and the assistance to Afghanistan which stands at 365 million SEK in 2008 will be raised to 500 million SEK yearly.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt described the international community's huge undertaking in the country in order to insure the democratic election, strengthen the police force and anti-corruption work as well as improve the regional dialogue with neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Iran. There are critics in Sweden, who pointed out that the Americans have not done much to help the civilian population's development. "Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries and has gone through three decades of war. The seven-years of state-building is not enough," said Carl Bildt.# (Edited and translated from Dagens Nyheter, Nov. 14, 2008)