MOD reaction on article published in Jutarnji list
With regard to the article published today in Jutarnji list entitled “Drama in Kabul, Borrowed a helicopter and pulled 18 Croats from the besieged military base”, the Ministry of Defence provides the following statement:
The text written by Kresimir Žabec published in Jutarnji list, today, 20 September 2012 on “dangerous pull out” of the CAF servicemen deployed in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan is not true. The helicopter that is mentioned in the text was used by Air Advisory Team members to transport members of the mentoring team from the Military Police School in Kabul to the airport only. This arrangement was planned in advance, two days before transporting, and it was not about any “evacuation and rescue from the besieged military base” but about the regular transport, and it was the transport of members of the 19th Croatian contingent who are to return to Homeland this days.
It is true that at first the possibility of transport by the U.S. military helicopters from Bagram was considered, but it has been cancelled due to the advance planned commitments of the U.S. military.