A send-off ceremony will be held in the town of Pleven, Northern Bulgaria, on Wednesday for a 200-strong unit which will join the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to provide security at Kabul Airport.

At the end of last year Bulgarian Defense Minister Anyu Angelov visited war-torn Afghanistan and the country's troops there for two days.

He assessed highly the work of the contingents in Kabul and Kandahar and stressed that Bulgaria's participation in the operations is a priority for the country's army.

At present, the Bulgarian contingents in Afghanistan, numbering 600 troops, are based in three locations – Kabul, Kandahar and Herat. Taliban rocket attacks on the Kandahar base, the outer perimeter of which is guarded by UK soldiers, are very common with up to 400 reported in 2009.

Bulgaria's center-right government, elected in the summer of 2009, initially said it would not be able to provide more forces in Afghanistan due to the economic crisis, but later changed its strategy under pressure from the United States and NATO.

At the end of July last year Defense Minister Anyu Angelov announced that about 700 Bulgarian troops will be trained to join the military operations of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and sent there in 2013 at the latest.

The information was subsequently denied.