Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 November / Trend corr. I.Alizade/ Azerbaijani standing parliamentary commission on security and defence ratified the Bill to withdraw Azerbaijani peacekeepers from Iraq.
"Azerbaijani peacekeepers were sent to Iraq in 2003 to serve there for 5 years. The period will expire in December this year," Ziyafat Asgarov, First Vice-Speaker of the standing parliamentary commission on security and defence, said at a meeting on 10 November.
There are 150 servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces operating in Iraq within the multinational forces.
There are 45 Azerbaijani peacekeepers operating in Afghanistan within the International Security Assistance Force. They patrol Kabul. Last month the Parliament passed an act to double the number of the peacekeepers in Afghanistan to 90.
On 4 March, Azerbaijani Parliament decided to withdraw 34 Azerbaijani peacekeepers from Kosovo due to the political situation which emerged in Kosovo after it separated from Serbia and proclaimed its one-sided independence.
President Ilham Aliyev submitted a Bill to the Parliament to withdraw the peacekeepers from Iraq, said Asgarov.
"There is no political motive. I think the Parliament will support the initiative to withdraw the Azerbaijani peacekeepers from Iraq," he said.
The commission supported the bill and recommended it for parliamentary consideration.
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