Poland loses first soldier in Afghanistan

[3rd Herd]

The Usual Disclaimer:
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=189540

Poland loses first soldier in Afghanistan
08-14-2007, 19h39
WARSAW (AFP)
A Polish soldier was killed Tuesday by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, the first fatality for Poland since it joined the NATO-led security force in March 2002.

Defence Minister Aleksander Szczyglo said that Lukasz Kurowski, 28, had "died in the line of duty" after his convoy was attacked some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from a base in Gardez in Paktia province near the border with Pakistan.

Second Lieutenant Kurowski was taking part in a joint patrol of NATO troops and the Afghan army on Tuesday when his Hummer vehicle came under fire, the Polish defence ministry said.

He was injured by a grenade blast and later died in hospital, the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Tuesday, security officials in Afghanistan had announced that a NATO soldier had been killed when insurgents ambushed a patrol in the area, without revealing the victim's name and nationality because of standard policy.

Five Afghan soldiers were wounded in the same incident, an Afghan army general told AFP.

Last month, four Polish soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

Polish troops in Afghanistan have recently complained that their vehicles are not sufficiently protected against attacks.

Eleven soldiers were sent home in June after refusing to go on patrol because of what they called "insufficient armouring of the American Hummer vehicles," defence ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak said at the time.

Poland earlier this year increased its existing Afghanistan contingent of around 200 troops to the current 1,200.

But their presence their remains controversial at home, with parliamentary opposition coming from both the left and the far-right.

A June poll of 903 people in Poland found almost 78 percent of respondents opposed to their country's participation in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

The Poles are part of the 36,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which is battling a Taliban-led insurgency.

They are responsible for security in the provinces of Paktika and Ghazni in the southeast of the country.

Polish crack units are also stationed in southern Afghanistan as part of a separate US-led force which is hunting down insurgents.

Kurowski's death brought the number of international troops killed this year to 135, according to an AFP count, most of them in action as the Taliban insurgency has spiralled. Five have been killed since Saturday.

NATO troops are battling the extremist religious Taliban movement, which launched an insurgency months after being removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion, and has stepped up attacks over the past year.

Meanwhile in Kabul on Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed US and British claims that Iranian weapons were being supplied to the Taliban.

 

[geo]

At ease Second Lieutenant Kurowski,
your patrol has come home and you can rest now,


At the going down of the sun,
and in the morn,
we will remember them!

CHIMO!

 

[Mike Baker]

RIP Second Lieutenant, you served your country well 

 

[vonGarvin]

RIP

 

[3rd Herd]

The Uusual Disclaimer:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/gb/dokument.aspx?iid=57038

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....


Another countries persptive on their loss and some interesting points from their view.