Polish leaders firm in defending Afghan deployment

WARSAW, Sep 21 (Reuters) Poland's ruling conservatives today defended plans to send 1,000 troops to Afghanistan in the face of growing tensions over the deployment with their leftist coalition partners.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother Lech, Poland's president, said they would stick to the decision to send the troops even though it was one factor pushing the coalition towards a break-up.

''NATO's principle is very clear -- if we want to count on being helped, we must loyally fulfil our alliance obligations,'' President Kaczynski wrote in a column in mass daily Fakt.

Poland has been a close US ally since the overthrow of communism in 1989. It has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.

''Polish troops have taken part in the mission in Afghanistan for years,'' Kaczynski said. ''They are helping the Afghan people in the difficult task of building a free state.'' The junior coalition party, leftist Self-Defence, however, has blasted the mission, expected to cost around 300 million zlotys (.2 million), as too expensive for a country whose hospitals and roads are falling apart, and where unemployment is nearly 16 per cent.

Self-Defence has long been sceptical of Poland's integration into NATO and the European Union and is locked in a fierce debate with the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice party over spending in next year's budget.

This week, Self-Defence introduced a parliamentary motion to reverse the Kaczynskis' plans for Afghanistan. Although parliament has no formal power to block military commitments, it added to speculation that the coalition's days were numbered.

Reuters PB RS2142