Polish troops could stay in Iraq beyond 2006

iraqwar/Xinhuanet: Polish Defense Minister Radek Sikorski said on Friday that Polish troops could stay in Iraq beyond their current deadline of December 2006.

"Everything depends on the situation's development and what the Iraqis and our American allies will ask us for," Sikorski said in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily. [db edit]

"It matters to us that the mission finishes a full success," he said. "We've put in so much money and political capital that we want to be able to say that Poland contributed to the rise of an Arab democracy and a better Iraq."

"Our goal is to hand over the Polish zone to well-trained Iraqi troops," Sikorski said.

The zone supervised by the Polish troops in Iraq was reduced from three to two provinces on Thursday. The American troops took over the third province.

The 1,400-strong Polish contingent has been helping training Iraqi forces in preparation of their take-over of security.

Last week, Polish President Lech Kaczynski approved extending the Iraq mission until the end of 2006, but suggested that Polish forces will be scaled down to 900 by mid-February. Link

Poland in Iraq for the money shock