The Czech Republic should maintain its current military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 while increasing its peacekeeping force in the Balkans, Defence Minister Karel Kuhnl said Friday. Under Kuhnl's proposal for next year, which the cabinet will consider soon, 910 Czech troops would be deployed in the three foreign assignments at a cost of 1.42 billion koruna (56 million dollars), dpa reported. Kuhnl wants to maintain the nation's current force of 100 military police officers and trainers in southern Iraq. That's been the Czech troop level in Iraq since its army field hospital with several hundred specialists pulled out of Basra in December 2003. His plan also calls for keeping 150 Czech soldiers in Afghanistan, including explosives specialists and a special forces team. They are currently guarding the Kabul airport and removing explosives in the country's northeast. The Czech presence in the Balkans would climb from the current 400 soldiers to about 660. Next month the Czech Republic will replace Finland as the country in charge of KFOR peacekeeping operations in central Kosovo. -- SP 2331 Local Time 2031 GMT
