Czech Republic to send special forces unit to Afghanistan

Prague - The Czech parliament's lower house Wednesday agreed to deploy a special-forces unit to Afghanistan for the rest of 2008.

The deployment was already cleared parliament's upper house, the Senate. Presidential approval is not required.

A contingent of up to 100 special-forces troops is to serve under US-led operation Enduring Freedom. The unit has already served in the mission in 2004 and 2006.

Currently some 330 Czech soldiers serve in three NATO-led missions in Afghanistan. A Czech civilian and military team has headed reconstruction efforts in south-eastern Loghar province since March.

The parliament allowed sending up to 415 troops to NATO operations in 2008 but the special-forces deployment required a separate authorization.

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