Minister visits Spanish troops in Afghanistan

1 August 2005

MADRID – Spain’s Defence Minister José Bono was in Afghanistan on Monday to visit Spanish troops who are part of the UN’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Bono flew via Dubai to north-east Afghanistan where he landed in a military Hercules plane at Qal’eh-ye Now, the small capital of the province of Badghis.

There, early on Monday morning, he visited the 120 soldiers who are working on the reconstruction of the area.

Later, he headed south to a base in Heart where 800 Spanish soldiers are stationed under the command of the Spanish air colonel Miguel Moreno Alvarez.

Bono was travelling with the head of the army, General José Antonio García González, the head of the air force, General Francisco José García de la Vega and representatives from the other political parties in the senate and the congress, apart from the PNV and the IU.

The Spanish force is part of the 8,000 soldiers from 37 countries who are in Afghanistan to secure peace in the country in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in the country on 18 September.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news