Dhaka not to send troops to Afghanistan
By IANSMonday, October 4, 2010
DHAKA - Bangladesh has said it will not send its troops to war-ravaged Afghanistan despite a request from the US.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that her government did not receive any formal proposal from the US about sending troops.
“So there is no question of sending troops,” she told her party’s advisory council members during a meeting Saturday.
Bangladesh will not send its forces to Afghanistan even if the US shows up with a formal request for troops, The Daily Star newspaper said Monday.
Ruling party sources said that the government will argue that the national sentiment is against sending troops to Afghanistan.
All Awami League advisers urged Hasina, their party chief, not to send troops considering the public sentiment.
“We are a developing nation, not a developed one. We have no capacity to fight battles at this moment. We can send troops only for UN peacekeeping, not for fighting battles,” an unnamed party official was quoted as saying.
The issue of sending troops had come up last month when US special Envoy for Afghanistan-Pakistan Richard Holbrooke met Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in New York.
The US wanted Bangladesh to send troops to establish peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Bangladesh has 40,000 soldiers engaged in UN peacekeeping operations in different part of the world.
