Czech Republic to send special forces unit to Afghanistan
Prague - The Czech parliament's lower house Wednesday agreed to deploy a special-forces unit to Afghanistan for the rest of 2008.
The deployment was already cleared parliament's upper house, the Senate. Presidential approval is not required.
A contingent of up to 100 special-forces troops is to serve under US-led operation Enduring Freedom. The unit has already served in the mission in 2004 and 2006.
Currently some 330 Czech soldiers serve in three NATO-led missions in Afghanistan. A Czech civilian and military team has headed reconstruction efforts in south-eastern Loghar province since March.
The parliament allowed sending up to 415 troops to NATO operations in 2008 but the special-forces deployment required a separate authorization.( dpa)