Czech Republic planning total pull-out from Kosovo in summer 2011

The Czech Republic will pull all of its soldiers out of Kosovo next summer, unless the security situation deteriorates, the Czech defence minister, Alexandr Vondra, said during a visit to a Czech base there on Monday. Mr Vondra said numbers were already being reduced significantly, with 270 departing in October, leaving less than 100 Czech soldiers in Kosovo. At the same time as the mission in the former province of Serbia is winding down, the Czech government is planning to beef up the country’s military presence in Afghanistan by nearly a third.