Press office of Georgian President announced that head of the country Mikheil Saakashvilli will spend New Year’s Eve with Georgian troops in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.
We should recall that Georgia has almost doubled its contribution to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan in October to 1,571 soldiers.
Since joining ISAF mission in November, 2009, Georgia has lost total of eighteen soldiers , seven of them this year.
Note, last week Ministry of Defense said that a Georgian soldier was missing in Afghanistan since December 19 and there is a high probability that missing soldier is alive.
Chief of staff of the Georgian armed forces, Vakhtang Kapanadze, is now in Afghanistan and involved in ongoing search and rescue operation.