PM Garibashvili: 'For 17 years, our country has contributed to world peace, fight against terrorism'
PM Garibashvili thanked over 20,000 servicemen who participated in the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. Photo: President's press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has attended an event celebrating the end of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan earlier this morning where he stated that for 17 years 'our country and our heroic military have made a worthy contribution to world peace and the fight against terrorism'.
The participation of our country in ongoing peacekeeping missions is a clear demonstration that Georgia is ready to be a provider of security and to fight with partners for global peace. The peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan since 2004 is another clear proof of this”, Garibashvili said.
He added that ‘we have been the largest contributor to the mission among non-member countries in terms of the number of troops participating in the mission, and we have demonstrated our support for strengthening global security together with NATO members and partner countries’.
Screenshot from live video.
Garibashvili thanked over 20,000 servicemen who participated in the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan
You defended our homeland by providing security in the world", Garibashvili told them at the event.
Garibashvili noted the fallen 32 'heroic soldiers' who lost their lives in Afghanistan and also thanked the wounded soldiers of the mission.
He stated that Georgia will 'definitely continue to strengthen global security in all existing formats'.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili awarded eight Georgian servicemen for 'military bravery' at the event.
Photo: President's press office.
The US Embassy to Georgia has congratulated to Georgia's 32nd infantry battalion on their safe return home.
This is a historic moment that marks the end of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission. In total, 7,078 Georgian soldiers trained and deployed side by side with US Marines over the past seven years", says the embassy.
US Ambassador Kelly Degnan also participated in the event. Photo: US Embassy to Georgia.
Statement published the embassy reads that 'it has been an honour for US service members to serve alongside their Georgian brothers and sisters in arms, who risk their lives for peacekeeping operations and who represent the firm commitment of the Georgian people to Euro-Atlantic integration'.
The last remaining Georgian troops in NATO's Resolute Support peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan began their drawdown on Monday, with the 32nd Battalion of the Georgian Defence Forces set to return to the homeland in phases.
One hundred Georgian soldiers from the third infantry brigade have already left Afghanistan and returned to Georgia as the US and NATO have begun withdrawing their troops from the country after two decades of war.
Chief of Georgian Defence Forces Major General Giorgi Matiashvili discussed the country's joint projects with NATO at the alliance's headquarters on Tuesday, with defence chiefs meeting in person in Brussels.
Georgia has begun participating in the US Special Operations Command Europe’s (SOCEUR) premier SOF exercise, Trojan Footprint 21.
A total of 28 buildings of the Army City, launched in October of 2020, has completed on the Mount Makhata. The Army City project, with a total of 39 seven-story buildings and 1,092 apartments, will be entirely completed in the summer of 2022.
Six Georgian citizens, who worked for a US company in Afghanistan, have been evacuated from the country via a Hungarian charter flight, the Georgian Foreign Ministry has reported. The Georgian citizens, who were trying to flee the country after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15, have already landed in Tbilisi. Sixteen other Georgian citizens remain in Afghanistan currently and the Georgian Foreign Ministry says they are doing ‘their utmost’ to ensure their safe return.
About 500 military servicemen have received apartments today in Varketili Military Town, a district in Tbilisi. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that this was a commitment made by the state in 2007, the fulfillment of which began 'a little later, after our political party came to power'. He congratulated the servicemen on receiving the apartments and thanked them for their service.