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Czech lawmakers reject foreign troop deployments for 2009
Dec 19, 2008, 17:36 GMT
Prague - The Czech parliament's lower house Friday rejected a government proposal outlining troop deployments abroad in 2009, in a move threatening troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Kosovo by March.
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's government failed to muster the needed 101 votes in the house, which rejected the deployments in a 99- 75 vote.
Topolanek has 60 days for another attempt. Forces currently deployed in Afghanistan, Kosovo and elsewhere may remain abroad for 60 days under a cabinet mandate. If the government does not muster the needed support by then, the troops must return home.
Nearly 400 soldiers currently serve in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said. Most soldiers are deployed under a NATO mission in the eastern Logar province where the Czech Republic runs reconstruction efforts.
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