Vanhanen: Poor Communication About Repatriating Troops From Afghanistan
Image: YLE
According to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, conflicting impressions among the nation's leadership about the timetable for withdrawing supplementary peacekeepers from Afghanistan was due to poor communications.
Vanhanen said on Thursday that the cabinet was unaware that the contracted term of service for the soldiers in the force is due to expire next week. He said it came as news to him.
President Tarja Halonen said this week that the withdrawal of the supplementary force of Finnish peacekeepers in Afghanistan took her by surprise as well. She said she believed they would be on the ground until the end of the presidential election. The election's second round was postponed for a couple of months during investigations of election fraud. Halonen says she had understood the troop withdrawal would be extended under the circumstances.
Defence Minister Jyri Häkämies has pointed out the departure date was agreed last summer with NATO. He denied keeping the president out of the loop, saying they are simply following a pre-agreed plan.
Vanhanen told Parliament that the matter will be sorted out in the next meeting of the government's foreign and security policy committee.
Ahtisaari: Communication Break "Not Worrying"
Former President Martti Ahtisaari says poor communications among the country’s political leaders over bringing home Finnish peacekeepers was not a serious problem.
Speaking in an interview given to YLE on Friday, Ahtisaari says the communication breakdown was annoying but necessarily worrying.
YLE