Poland will strengthen its troops in Afghanistan, informs RZECZPOSPOLITA.

Review by Aleksander Kropiwnicki

As Bogdan Klich, the Polish defence minister announced last Thursday during the NATO meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, that the number of Polish soldiers based in Afghanistan would be as high as 1,600 by July 2008. "NATO cannot lose in Afghanistan if it doesn’t want to cause a new wave of terrorist attacks in the West", warned in Vilnius Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the general secretary of NATO, quoted by RZECZPOSPOLITA.

All the Polish troops in Afghanistan will be concentrated in one region instead of being split and serving in various provinces, informs DZIENNIK. The newspaper welcomes this announcement of the Polish government. Finally, finally, finally, writes a columnist of DZIENNIK. Poland can control its own zone as it has already been doing successfully in Iraq. If Polish soldiers in Afghanistan serve under their own command, the risk of misunderstandings and unfortunate accidents will be much smaller, claims the columnist.

The European Union should be transformed into a federation, a kind of United States of Europe, claims Jan Sveynar, a Czech economist and left-wing candidate for the Czech presidency, in his interview with GAZETA WYBORCZA. According to opinion polls, most of Czechs would prefer Sveynar than the current head of state, Vaclav Klaus. The idea of situating the American anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic should be re-considered, says Professor Sveynar.