The 1st of December is marked as the Day of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) and at the same time the 17th anniversary of the establishment of a unified army in BiH.
The Minister of Defense of BiH Sifet Podzic and the Chief of the Joint Staff of the AFBiH, Colonel General Senad Masovic, discussed the results of work and activities in 2022, and the conference was also attended by Deputy Minister Mijo Kresic and Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of the ABiH, Major General Gojko Knezevic.
Minister Podzic said that everyone can be satisfied and proud of the members of the AFBiH, and as the greatest success, he marked the evaluation of the light infantry combat group at the final evaluation of NEL-2 where they showed their readiness and where 840 members of the AFBiH were rated with a high excellent rating and declared ready for the NATO force pool.
”We should not forget that these 840 people are 10 percent of the personnel of the AFBiH, that there are 11 declared units of lower formation status than before, and it is a great success of some small Armed Forces, that it has such a number of trained and NATO-ready soldiers,” Podzic pointed out.
Podzic said that he expected that BiH would increase its budget after the Russian aggression against Ukraine and that he tried to do so, but it did not work. He expressed the hope that the new authorities will succeed in this, and that he saw that they have good plans, with the hope that they will succeed in this.
”Investing in security and defense is an investment, not an expense,” said Podzic.
Colonel General Senad Masovic, Chief of the Joint Staff of the AFBiH, said that the establishment and existence of a unified Armed Forces is one of the greatest achievements of post-Dayton BiH.
”It is well known to everyone that the AFBiH are the only legal and legitimate military force of the state of BiH, which in its 17 years of existence has fully justified its purpose,” Masovic stated.
As one of the most important things for the Armed Forces, in terms of maintaining capabilities, he pointed out the training that is carried out within its framework.
”During 2022, within the framework of the Armed Forces and our centers, which are at our disposal and are getting stronger every day, both individual and institutional and collective training was continuously conducted. In many respects, one of the most important results since the establishment of the AFBiH is the implementation of the NEL-2 evaluation exercise of the light infantry battalion group,” Masovic added.
Moreover, Masovic said that activities on the full implementation of the NATO concept of operational capabilities are to be continued, not only in the battalion group of light infantry but in all units within the AFBiH, primarily in order to raise the level of interoperability, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
