WASHINGTON – In a letter to Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken thanked Greece for having troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic sources not identified told Kathimerini that  Blinken acknowledged the contribution of some 3,300 Greek Armed Forces personnel who served, at various times before the US pulled out and left the country to the Taliban to seize after 20 years of fighting.

Blinked lauded the Greek troops for work that included working on infrastructure at Kabul airport in the capital, providing humanitarian aid and other security and defense operations that he didn’t specify.

He described Greece as a stable ally, the countries in 2021 renewing a military cooperation pact that saw the Americans seek a greater military presence in the country and more bases, while trying to assuage Turkey at the same time.

The Greek troops were in Afghanistan even during the 4 ½-year reign of the former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA and then-premier Alexis Tsipras who swore Greek forces wouldn’t be on foreign soil and that he would take Greece out of NATO.