SUICIDE ATTACK
The Spanish foreign minister rejected the idea of Madrid's sending more troops to Afghanistan
11.11.08 - 19:26 -
Spanish Crown Prince Felipe, right, and his wife, Crown Princess Letizia, stand as soldiers, not seen, carry the coffins of the two Spanish soldiers during their funeral in Figueirido. / AP
The Spanish foreign minister rejected on Monday the idea of Madrid's sending more troops to Afghanistan, saying that the deaths of two soldiers in a weekend suicide attack "has made clear Spain's commitment" to the South Asian country.
"The debate should not be over sending more troops, it should be about how to carry out a political-military development strategy that will end an unstable situation," Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos said on his arrival in Brussels for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
"We Spaniards should all feel very proud of what we are doing in Afghanistan and should not have any problems" with the work of the 778 troops deployed as part of the 35,500-strong, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.
Spain, the foreign minister said, "is contributing in fundamental areas for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of this country, and, as a result, the debate is not more troops."
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, for his part, expressed his condolences to the soldiers' families.
The EU's top foreign policy official, Javier Solana, said "the situation is difficult" in Afghanistan, but he noted that "it is a stage on which we must remain."
Solana, however, said he was in favor of reviewing the mission's parameters.
"There is a review also on the part of the United States, and we want to see how we can find a strategy to deal with Afghanistan and Pakistan," Solana said.
Two Spanish soldiers were killed, while four other soldiers and a civilian were wounded, in a suicide attack on Sunday in the western Afghan province of Herat, the Spanish Defense Ministry said.
Cpl. Rubén Alonso Ríos and Warrant Officer Juan Andrés Suárez García, both members of the BRILAT air mobile light brigade, were killed in the attack, Defense Minister Carme Chacón, who travelled to Afghanistan to accompany the dead and the injured home, said in a statement.
Cpl. Antonio Cures García was seriously wounded in the suicide attack, while Capt. Enrique Dopico Rodríguez, Sgt. Gonzalo Miguelez Dieguez and Cpl. Alberto Cao Pérez suffered minor wounds.
Funeral
The bodies of Rubén Alonso Ríos and Juan Andrés Suárez García were brought back to Spain yesterday and a funeral was held for them today in Pontevedra which was attended by the Prince and Princess of Asturias, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the leader of the PP, Mariano Rajoy.
The soldiers died when a van packed with explosives was driven into an ISAF convoy, an Afghan official told Efe.
The attack occurred in Shindand, a district in southern Herat, the police spokesman for western Afghanistan, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, said.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility immediately on their Web site for the suicide attack, stating that the target was a U.S. convoy.
Both ISAF and U.S. troops operate in Shindand, one of the most violent areas in Herat.
A total of 87 Spanish troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Madrid deployed military forces in the Asian country in January 2002.
