Last week I had the honour to award certificates to forty men and women of the Romanian armed forces that will soon be joining the rest of the Romanian contingent in Zabul Province in Afghanistan. They had just completed four weeks training with British military instructors as part of a course of several months spent preparing for their mission.
This is a vital mission for Great Britain and for Romania.
There was a time when Afghanistan was unknown territory for most people in Europe. Britain has a long history of engagement with Afghanistan, due to its proximity to the British Empire in India in the 19th century. And in the 1980s Afghanistan became one of the theatre in which the conflict between the US and the USSR was played out. But today we live in a smaller world, and Afghanistan is close to all of us. The lesson of 9/11 was that no country can afford another country to be left ungoverned, as a free space where organized crime and terrorist groups can operate. The old adage of the Helsinki Final Act has come true – our security is truly indivisible.
The front line against the Taliban – in Zabul, in Kandahar, in Helmand provinces – is today the front line for the security of Europe. If we are not successful in confronting the menace of terrorism there then it will confront us on the streets of Europe. So Romania is playing its part in our collective defence. The British trainers told me that the Romanian troops were among the best that they had trained anywhere – extremely competent and well motivated for the task that lies ahead. I am glad that the UK has had the opportunity to support them in their mission. I am even more pleased that, at the invitation of the Romanian MOD, we are extending the training we provide to more Romanian troops in the New Year.
