Finnish troops start work in Afghanistan

A team of the Finnish Defence Forces on Saturday afternoon reached at the Kabul Airport and started its duty to safeguard the evacuation operation, according to the Ministry of Defense.

“The Defence Forces arrived safely at Kabul Airport and started carrying out its mission,” said the ministry in a twitter post in Finnish on Saturday evening, adding that further information in this regard will be given later.

A Boeing C-17 Globemaster carrying the team of the Defence Force landed at the Kabul Airport at about 4:00 pm Finnish local time after a journey of 20 hours, according to media reports.

It made three stopovers in Georgia, Poland and Romania on its way to Kabul.

Earlier on Friday, President Sauli Niinistö approved the government´s proposal to send a Defence Forces unit to Kabul International Airport.

The decision was preceded by deliberations on a report on the matter in the plenary session of Parliament.

The government on Thursday submitted the proposal to the Parliament and the deliberations took one day.

The decision to send troops was made in accordance with the Act on the Making of Decisions Concerning the Provision of and Request for International Assistance. This is the first time the Act is being applied.

The unit assigned to the task has the highest level of performance in Finland thanks to its extensive training and crisis management experience.

During the operation, the unit will operate under the national leadership of Finland. The troops will operate only at Kabul International Airport and in its immediate vicinity.