Poland will lend Canada two military helicopters for use in Afghanistan and increase its small troop presence there, the Polish foreign minister said in Ottawa, answering his ally's call for more NATO troops and equipment to fight insurgents. “We appreciate the sacrifices that Canada has made, and that's partly why we have increased our contribution to Afghanistan by 400 soldiers so that we will have 1,600 soldiers by the middle of this year [and] eight helicopters, two of which will be available for Canada's needs,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told public broadcaster CBC late Monday during an official trip to Ottawa. “We are also increasing our presence, concentrating our contingent and moving towards where the Canadians are,” Sikorski said. “Actually, our special forces [are] already in Kandahar with the Canadians.”
