Farewell in Žilina

Slovakia is sending its fifth rotational unit of soldiers to the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan. The departing members of the SVK Armed Forces were bidden farewell by the State Secretary of the SVK Ministry of Defence, Marián Saloň, and the 2nd Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces, Jindřich Joch, during a predeployment ceremony held on the grounds of the 5th Special Forces Regiment base in Žilina. As part of the Slovak contingent, 32 servicemen and 2 women will be serving with an Advisory, Training and Medical Team in and around Kabul. Previously, Slovak service personnel had been operationally committed to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which had lasted for 13 years in Afghanistan. While over 3,500 members of the SVK Armed Forces had rotated in and out of ISAF, a total of 168 personnel have so far been deployed in support of the new Resolute Support Mission. As of today, 44 SVK Armed Forces members are currently on their tour of duty in the RSM. The 4th rotational unit of troops will return home from the RSM on 2 December.