The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry acclaimed the North Atlantic Council decision to launch Operation Essential Harvest. NATO gave authority to General Joseph Ralston to deploy 3,500 troops to disarm the ethnic Albanian extremists in Macedonia on August 13. `Bulgaria will continue to actively support and contribute to the actions of the international community and NATO as well as the efforts of the legitimate political forces in the Republic of Macedonia to restore lasting peace and stability in the country,`the Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement, quoted by BTA.