Commemorative event at Prague’s Vítkov marks end of Czech Army’s Afghan mission

A commemorative event marking the end of the Czech Army’s twenty-year deployment in Afghanistan was held at the National Monument on Prague’s Vítkov Hill on Friday.

The ceremony, attended by the country’s top politicians, representatives of the army and war veterans who served in Afghanistan, honoured the memory of the soldiers who died in the line of duty.

The country's participation in the Afghan mission was the longest foreign operation in the Czech military’s history. In total, some 11,500 soldiers took part in the NATO mission and fourteen of them were killed.

Chief of General Staff Aleš Opata, who was in command of the Czech contingent in the Provincial Reconstruction Team since April 2006, said that the army had learned a lot in the mission, gaining in strength, self-confidence and winning respect in the world.