Portugal will support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Afghanistan by posting a Hercules C-130 plane during elections in the country later this year, Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Severiano Teixeira said Wednesday.
" Portugal will contribute the plane during the electoral period in Afghanistan in September," he told the Parliament Commission of Defense, adding that the plane, with some 40 military personnel, is expected to remain in Afghanistan till the end of the year, Xinhua reports.
Once the plane from Portugal is accepted, the government "will undertake all the constitutional procedures to make the sending possible," according to the minister.
The Hercules C-130 has recently finished participating in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Portugal also plans to send a team of military trainers and a 15-member medical team to the country.
Teixeira said the two teams, together with logistic support personnel, the officers in the general quarters of the NATO/ISAF forces, and the medical team, will make up a total of 111 Portuguese military personnel in Afghanistan.
