Georgia, Tbilisi, Aug. 6 /Trend N.Kirtzkhalia /
More soldiers are willing to extend their contract service in the Georgian armed forces, the Georgian Defence Ministry said.
Some 90.6 per cent of the polled soldiers expressed their desire to extend their contracts for military service, an internal poll held in June said. In June 2012 new contracts were signed by some 71.4 per cent of servicemen and in June 2009 the contracts were signed by 64.8 per cent of the servicemen.
According to the statistics, the lowest figure for contract servicemen in Georgia in the last five years was in December 2008, amounting to only 47.8 per cent of servicemen and this was observed immediately after the Georgian-Russian war.
Contract military servants are dispatched to serve in Afghanistan where Georgia has already lost 29 soldiers.
Afterwards, a number of political opposition parties in Georgia demanded the withdrawal of Georgian troops from Afghanistan, but the current government does not intend to do so.