Bulgaria Not Withdrawing Troops from Afghanistan - DefMin

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said the country will not pull its 110-strong contingent out of Afghanistan, despite threats by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hurled last week and earlier in September.

Such a decision applied to the 110-strong (80 of them under the Resolute Support Mission) Bulgarian forces, but also to those of bigger nations, will result in the disintegration of Afghanistan and will trigger an even stronger wave of migrants to Europe, Nenchev has told bTV station.

Borisov had earlier suggested keeping the troops in Afghanistan was expensive (BGN 90 M a year currently) and questionable given the inflow of migrants.

On Monday evening, however, EU and Afghanistan agreed to allow readmission of migrants who arrived to the EU but were refused protection by a member state.