The Pentagon is steering more money toward Eastern European allies fighting in Afghanistan, Bloomberg news agency reported on January 19, referring to a press release issued by the US Department of Defense. Hungary will receive $13.3 million in the fiscal year ending September 30, an increase from $2.87 million last year.

The U.S. plans to spend as much as $100 million, 33 percent more than last year, to provide training and equipment to countries helping conduct special operations missions and training for Afghan forces fighting the Taliban.

The biggest increases are going to Hungary, Poland, Romania and Lithuania, which have made outsize contributions of troops to the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan. Hungary will receive $13.3 million in the fiscal year ending September 30, an increase from $2.87 million last year.

According to Bloomberg, the Pentagon is relying more on Eastern European allies, most of them in NATO, as traditional alliance members such as the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany cut their own defense budgets. Western European allies also are looking to reduce their forces in Afghanistan in proportion to the Pentagon’s withdrawal of about a third of its forces by September.

(MoD Press Office)