The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Zukan Helez spoke after the flight of the United States (U.S.) B1 bombers over Sarajevo and said that the exercise showed that the Armed Forces of BiH (AFBiH) can respond to any challenge.
Helez said that this event from yesterday is the result of long-term cooperation between the U.S. and BiH.
“This was a type of training where our Armed Forces guided the U.S. aircraft and our Armed Forces showed that they can perform the most important tasks. The U.S. is our key military-political external partner and we have many more events of a similar nature planned. This is a confirmation that the U.S.guarantees the integrity of the border of BiH. I am proud of our Armed Forces, and a big thank to our friends from the U.S. for this event,” Helez said.
He added that everything was done in accordance with the regulations and the law, and reiterated that such events do not require the approval of the BiH Presidency. When it comes to the remarks of some Serbian politicians, that the same planes bombed Serbia in 1999, Helez said that it does not concern BiH.
“Here, everything was done as envisaged, who bombed whom, it’s some kind of event between two states, we don’t get into it, BiH is a sovereign state, it has the right to conclude agreements, contracts, sign training exercises, and that’s what we do. The statements of some officials are politicking,” pointed out Helez.
The Minister of Defense announced that there will be several more exercises of a similar type in the future.
“Every day we are closer to the NATO alliance, no one can stop that. Over three quarters of the population want BiH to join NATO and we will be in NATO. AFBiH are trained to cooperate with every army in the world, especially the strongest power in the world like the U.S.,” concluded Helez, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
