President approves troops deployment in Kabul

President Sauli Niinistö on Friday approved the government´s proposal to send a Defence Forces unit to Kabul International Airport to safeguard the evacuation operation of the Finnish relief team, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release.

The decision was preceded by deliberations on a report on the matter in the plenary session of Parliament.

Earlier, the government on Thursday submitted the proposal to the Parliament and the deliberations took one day.

The decision to send troops was made in accordance with the Act on the Making of Decisions Concerning the Provision of and Request for International Assistance. This is the first time the Act is being applied.

The unit is ready for deployment as soon as the formalities are finalised. The unit assigned to the task has the highest level of performance in Finland thanks to its extensive training and crisis management experience.

During the operation, the unit will operate under the national leadership of Finland. The troops will operate only at Kabul International Airport and in its immediate vicinity.

The President, however, said that it's "extremely difficult" to plant one's own model in another, reported Xinhua.

Reflecting on the lessons of Afghanistan, Niinistö said, "the big question is that this has now become an experience, that it is extremely difficult to plant one's own model in completely different communities and societies from different backgrounds."

Niinistö said, "we will certainly be involved in such traditional crisis management, but there were certain lessons to be learned from this and it could be said that perhaps they will limit ambition or ambition in crisis management."