Polish, Slovak Presidents Warn Of Iraq Pullout Danger

18 November 2004 -- The presidents of Poland and Slovakia warned today against announcing troop withdrawals from Iraq ahead of elections scheduled for January 2005.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that "decisions taken from one day to the next" only increase the degree of danger and uncertainty in the region.

Kwasniewski was speaking at a joint news conference in Warsaw with visiting Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic.

Poland commands a 6,000-strong international force in Iraq. It says its soldiers will take over tasks previously carried out the 300 Hungarian troops whose withdrawal by the end of this year was announced earlier this week.

Today, the Muslim member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Sulejman Tihic, said a Bosnian unit will join U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq in early 2005.

(Agencies)