With the participation of Maj.-Gen. László Domján, the commander of the HDF Joint Force Command, the units of the Hungarian Defence Forces operating in Baghlan Province held staff meetings at the camp of the HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT) in Pol-e Khomri and at the Hungarian–US Military Advisory Team (MAT) in Khilagay. (Reporting from the spot!)

Also present at the events were Col. János Csombók, the acting Operations Chief of the Defence Staff, Col. Antal Sipos, the commander of the last PRT rotation and Lt.-Col. Szabolcs Pécsvárady, the commander of the Hungarian–US Military Advisory Team (MAT).

At the MAT staff meeting, László Domján thanked the contingent for having done an excellent job, and talked about the Hungarian–American military cooperation and the tasks to be executed by the contingent. The general praised the successful activity of the team and the achieved results.

Mentored by the soldiers of the Hungarian Defence Forces and the Ohio National Guard, an Afghan battalion (kandak) reached the capability of independent operation, and therefore the unit was assessed as combat ready. In February 2013, in accordance with its new mission, the advisory team started training and preparing for the relocation to Mazar-e Sharif where it mentors the staff work of the Afghan National Civil Order Police.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT) held another staff meeting with the participation of Maj.-Gen. László Domján. The speakers at the event gave an overview of the participation of the Hungarian Defence Forces in international peace support operations with special emphasis on the missions in the theatre of war in Afghanistan. The commander of the HDF JFC assessed the HUN PRT’s last six and a half years and talked about the tasks assigned to the last contingent, the return home and the process of handing over the camp.
The general stressed that the personnel must continue paying special attention to security during the remaining period of the withdrawal.

After the staff meeting the soldiers of the PRT and the members of the delegation commemorated their comrades who had been killed in action in Afghanistan. They lit a candle which had been sent to the camp by posthumous Major Krisztián Nemes’ wife in memory of her husband.

Maj.-Gen. Domján said that the funerary memorial sites in the area of the camp would be transported back home and would receive their deserved places at the units of the Hungarian Defence Forces. Based on Minister of Defence Csaba Hende’s decision, the black marble plaques at the entrance of the PRT house which commemorate the Hungarian soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan would be placed in the inner courtyard of the MoD Institute and Museum of Military History where everybody can pay their tribute to the dead of the Provincial Reconstruction Team.

(Krisztián Vargha)