Azerbaijan scales up its forces in Afghanistan at US' request

Military analysts have treated the increase of the number of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Afghanistan as making overtures to the USA. According to their forecasts, such an increase will not lead to a deepening of the Azerbaijan-NATO partnership.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 9, 70 Azerbaijani soldiers and officers left for Afghanistan to replace their colleagues. Azerbaijan increased the number of its peacekeepers in Afghanistan from 94 up to 120.

Such a step "is rather symbolic," believes Togrul Juvarly, a member of the Azerbaijani Public National Committee for European Integration. He suggests that Azerbaijan "distances itself from deepening partnership with NATO."

Togrul Juvarly also treated the increase in the number of peacekeepers as "making overtures to the US." "After all, it was the US that called on the countries involved in the operation in Afghanistan to increase the number of their forces in the country," Togrul Juvarly stated.

Meanwhile, he believes that Azerbaijan makes signals to NATO that "the country is ready to support it on certain issues."

According to Togrul Juvarly, the increase in the number of Azerbaijani forces in Afghanistan "will also not affect the Baku's relations with Russia."

Military expert Azad Isazade believes that while participating in the NATO operation in Afghanistan, the Azerbaijani soldiers and officers "are gaining experience."

"The settlement of the Karabakh conflict is a priority for Azerbaijan," Azad Isazade has added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.