Bulgaria is going to increase its contingent in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan next year, local Sofia News Agency reported on Monday, citing the Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army, General Zlatan Stoykov.
According to the General, NATO had asked Bulgaria to increase its troops in Afghanistan. The scope of the surge in Bulgarian forces in the central Asian country, however, remained unclear as Stoykov's General Staff was first going to craft an expert opinion, which was then going to be presented to relevant national institutions. Bulgaria currently has 460 troops in Afghanistan.
Stoykov and Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Tsonev on Sunday visited the Butmir base of the Bulgarian unit at EUFOR ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they met with the Bulgarian soldiers in service.
A total of 116 Bulgarian troops are stationed in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo guarding several checkpoints.