Albania to add an infantry platoon in Afghanistan

TIRANA, Albania – Albania’s defence minister says it plans to send a third infantry platoon in Afghanistan.

Minister Olta Xhacka on Friday said another platoon would join the two existing ones at the Resolute Support mission “in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan,” according to a statement.

Two other infantry platoons of about 80 troops are located in Herat and Kabul.

Xhacka announced the news in her meetings with senior NATO generals who were taking part at the annual meeting of the alliance’s Military Committee, which was being held in Tirana.

Albania, a NATO member since 2009, takes part in international peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Mali and the Aegean Sea.