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Reuters
Reuters
Politics

Poland withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, says president

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A NATO helicopter flies over the city of Kabul, Afghanistan June 29. 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo

Poland will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan at the end of June, President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday, bringing its two-decade presence in the country to an end.

NATO allies agreed in April that foreign troops under NATO command will withdraw from Afghanistan in coordination with a U.S. pull-out by Sept. 11.

"At the end of June, after 20 years, we are ending our military involvement in the largest NATO operation in history," Duda wrote on Twitter, adding that the first troops would return to Poland on Thursday night.

FILE PHOTO: Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks during a joint news briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (not pictured) as they meet in Kyiv, Ukraine October 12, 2020. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/Pool

After withdrawing, the United States and NATO aim to rely on Afghan military and police forces, which they have developed with billions of dollars in funding, to maintain security.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz, Editing by William Maclean)

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