Corporal Mindia Abashidze from the 32nd Light Infantry Battalion was “killed while fulfilling a combat task under the ISAF mission in Afghanistan”, the Georgian Defense Ministry said on October 12.  

The latest death brings to eighteen the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the country joined the NATO-led operation in November, 2009.

The Georgian Defense Ministry also said that 22-year-old Corporal Abashidze had been serving in the army since August 2008. Corporal Abashidze was in the Helmand province of Afghanistan for second tour of duty with the 32nd battalion.

NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who spoke on phone with President Saakashvili and Georgian Dream leader Bidzina Ivanishvili on October 12, expressed his condolences for death of a Georgian officer in Afghanistan and conveyed NATO's “strong appreciation for Georgia's steadfast commitment to Afghanistan.”