Hungarian SOF bid farewell, receive NATO medals

U.S. Special Operations Command Europe
Story by Maj. Joel Anderson
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KABUL, Afghanistan - Hungarian Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) soldiers of the 34th 'László Bercsényi' Special Forces Battalion (KMZ) were recognized here for their outstanding contributions upon completion of their most recent rotation to train Afghan Security Forces in eastern Afghanistan.

The specially trained Hungarian soldiers have been working as part of a multi-nation, SOF Task Force in the Regional Command East (RC-E) area of the country to train Special Police Units (SPUs), specialists in civil order security and high-risk arrests.

Hungarian SOF has been assisting in this mission for almost the entire five years that the task force, which they are a member of, has been in existence with six-month rotations in support of ANSF and ISAF.

Hungarian SOF Commander, Col. Tamas Sandor said, "I am very proud of these guys and the way they have represented our country to assist and train our Afghan partners in the SPU."

In addition to leaders from across the NATO Special Operations Component Command Afghanistan (NSOCC-A), Antal Dragos, the recently arrived, Hungarian Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, was also on hand in recognition of the occasion.

The event wrapped up with the serving of a traditional Hungarian beef stew served over boiled potatoes.

"Our team and I are very lucky," Sandor exclaimed. "we have some of our support staff members here with and they do so much to support our team while deployed here and we all greatly appreciate these efforts."

Hungarian SOF and their NSOCC-A brothers-in-arms are part of efforts in training the SPUs to develop capacity for future, sustainable tactics and inter-ANSF collaboration in the months ahead to ensure Afghan people and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan are ready to independently face the security challenges of the future.

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Posted in: Afghanistan, Hungarian Army Special Operations Forces, Hungarian PRT, NATO, Regional Command East