The Diplomat
King Philip VI, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, received yesterday at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base (Madrid) the last Spanish contingent in Afghanistan, with which Spain puts an end to almost 20 years of missions in that country.
The 24 soldiers and the two local interpreters of the Resolute Support mission, the last Spanish relief in Afghanistan, landed at seven o’clock in the evening at the Torrejón Air Base, where their families were waiting for them and a ceremony of recognition to the personnel participating in missions in Afghanistan was held, which was also attended by the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral General Teodoro Esteban Calderón.
During the ceremony, which was presided over by the King from the royal tribune, the commander of the Operations Command (CMOPS), Lieutenant General Francisco Braco, recounted the different operations carried out in Afghanistan and Colonel Alfonso Álvarez Planelles, head of the last contingent deployed, presented Felipe VI with the last national flag that flew in Kabul (Afghanistan). For his part, Don Felipe handed over the flag to the director of the Army Museum, Brigadier General Jesús Arenas García. The King visited the Spanish troops in Afghanistan in June 2008, when he was still Prince of Asturias.
Margarita Robles then said a few words in which she remembered the 102 Spanish soldiers who “died giving the best of themselves, their young lives, to give peace and freedom to others”. She also apologized “from the bottom of her heart if any of their relatives at any time have not felt accompanied or supported” and assured that “all of Spain” has “a debt of gratitude with those of you who have returned, with those of you who are here, with those who have not returned, with their families”.
“You have the commitment from all of us that we will make sure that throughout history the sacrifice you have made for peace, freedom and security is never forgotten”, she continued. “When one suffers in Afghanistan, we suffer in Spain. The Armed Forces, the Police, the Civil Guard and the National Intelligence Center know this well”, concluded the Minister of Defense.
Enduring Freedom, ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and Resolute Support, the last two under NATO command, are the three missions in which Spain has participated in Afghanistan since January 2002, when the first contingent of 350 soldiers arrived after the 9/11 attacks in the USA. Spain was initially involved in Operation Enduring Freedom with medical support, transport planes, ships and helicopters, and later in ISAF, in which 29,000 soldiers from the three armies and the Guardia Civil took part, and in Resolute Support, in which Spain assigned 24 troops to advise and train the Afghan security forces.
The end of the Resolute Support mission was announced last April 14 by the NATO Defense and Foreign Ministers, in the same year in which the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is celebrated and after the impulse received by the peace process in the Central Asian country as a consequence of the peace agreement signed by the US with the Taliban last February 29.
