Georgian Defense Minister, Tina Khidasheli, is visiting Georgian troops serving in Afghanistan.

This is her first foreign trip since becoming defense minister earlier this month.

The Defense Minister marks Georgia’s Independence Day on May 26 with Georgian soldiers in Afghanistan.

“I want to congratulate Georgian soldiers from here, Afghanistan, where we prove that Georgia struggles for global security alongside with the civilized world,” she said in a video address from Kabul aired during the oath-taking ceremony of up to 200 soldiers on Freedom Square in Tbilisi – one of the main ceremonies, attended by the President, PM and other officials, marking the Independence Day.

Georgia is the second largest troop contributor to NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan with about 885 servicemen.

They are deployed at the Resolute Support mission headquarters in Kabul; as well as in the Bagram Airfield and at the German army’s Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Georgian troops’ duties focus on security and rapid reaction force.