Georgia will begin withdrawing its 160 soldiers from Kosovo this week, as Tbilisi plans to contribute to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan.

“We have decided to boost our participation in ISAF [International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan], because this operation is a top priority for NATO; so we have decided, based on our goals, to redirect our efforts towards ISAF. We will simultaneously continue our presence in Iraq as well,” Batu Kutelia, the Georgian deputy defense minister, told Rustavi 2 TV on April 14.

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian foreign minister, said in late March that Georgia was offering to send two company size units – one to support the French contingent in Kabul and another one alongside the Dutch in the southern province of Uruzgan. Georgia is also ready to send a smaller MoD special operations unit to be deployed alongside U.S. troops.

Georgia currently has one medic working with ISAF. Fifty soldiers and officers from the Georgian 16th Mountain Battalion were stationed in Afghanistan for 100 days alongside German forces in 2004 during the presidential elections there.