Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has supported plans for sending an additional 20 Croatian military instructors to Afghanistan, saying that this move will strengthen Croatia's position in NATO and that the safety of Croatian troops deployed in that war-stricken Asian country will not be undermined.
"I support that initiative," President Josipovic said on Thursday, adding that he hoped that the national parliament would greenlight the deployment of additional instructors.
In this way Croatia will strengthen its position and continue playing an active and positive role in Afghanistan, President Josipovic said at a news conference he held on the occasion of the first anniversary of Croatia's admission to NATO.
President Josipovic, who is the Croatian Armed Forces' supreme commander, assessed Croatia's cooperation with partners in the alliance as more than fair over the last year.
He added that Croatia had not been exposed to any kind of pressure and that there existed only responsible membership.
"Croatia will always make decisions taking into account the fact that being a member (of the alliance), it has to comply with rules and protect its national interests," the president said.
Highlighting that NATO membership provides top security guarantees a country could be granted, President Josipovic recalled that the basic principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's charter was that parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them shall be considered an attack against all of them.
"This is the reason why our people feel safer now than in the period before Croatia joined NATO," President Josipovic said.