The Slovak parliament agreed today to boost the country's forces in Afghanistan in 2010 by up to 57 military guards, dpa reported. The lawmakers have thus raised Slovakia's Afghanistan deployment limit for this year from 262 troops to 319. A member since 2004 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Slovakia has vowed to double its forces in Afghanistan as part of a NATO pledge to expand forces in the war-torn country. Some 240 Slovak soldiers currently serve under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission, an army spokesman has said. The additional troops, whose deployment was approved in a 120-3 vote, are set to guard the Kandahar airport.
