Defence Minister Mrs. Mimi Kodheli and Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Jeronim Bazo, through a video conference conversed with the personnel of “MAT 5” and “Eagle 8” contingents, who serve within the ISAF operation in Kandahar and Kabul, Afghanistan.
The commander of “MAT 5”, Colonel Ardjan Bali and the commander of “Eagle 8”, Major Agron Kuta briefed Defence Minister Kodheli on the current situation in the theatre of operation, as well as on the tasks our peacekeepers are carrying out successfully in Afghanistan.
Defence Minister Mrs. Mimi Kodheli’s address to the personnel of the Armed Forces in Kabul and Kandahar: “Greetings Major Kuta of “Eagle 8”! I'm glad to see you well. It’s a different thing when I’m informed through documents and it is a different thing when I see you. I am very pleased, and affected by your reports, because I see and sense a different reality from what people want to think and benefit from your sacrifice. I’m here the guarantor of your sacrifice and that the malevolent people will not benefit from it. I assure you that during your military and professional career, and why not in your experience of life, you have known many people. Likely, I may not know any of you, but I swear on my honour that you will have my support as Mimi Kodheli, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Albania, today and for rest of your life, wherever you are, wearing a uniform or not, and I mean it not only to swear in front of you. I have proven it each time I have had the responsibility towards: human life, in all its dimensions and I will not let anyone put a fictitious, unfair, unjust division among all people in uniform, from the Chief of Defence and to the last professional soldier and me. Fortunately, I am a woman; I have the sensibility of a mother and a wife, even of a daughter. Fortunately, I am an accountant by profession, and I figure out a lot more from taxation then those who want to abuse and do not understand it.
I was informed yesterday that you have received your usual payments, at a moment, as the Chief of Defence said, before I could present to the Premier the issue of your taxation. This thing has been done with dignity by the Land Force Commander, Major General Zyber Dushku, long ago, when he discussed seriously with the legal staff to find a way to exclude you from this taxation. I believe we will find a solution, but I firmly believe that, you are there because you made an oath; you are there because you believe in your Homeland and noble task, and this is far more important than any other discussion. I am here not because I believe in the salary of the minister, but because I still believe in the service to Homeland, although in different roles, we have equally sworn: myself, on the constitution, and you on the flag to serve the country, certainly serving our families which are the most important thing we have. So, with the wish that your morale is as high as we perceive it today, I, the Chief of Defence, the generals, all here, Commander Hoxha will all continue to be in complete unity with each other, exchanging information and problems with each other, with great hope and full confidence that you will continue to carry out with honour the assigned task. The word honour is a very important word, so thank you for all your work and effort. I also thank all the General Staff and all those who make possible for you to be there in good health, with payments, with the full support of our strategic partners, so that you might have everything. Certainly, you have been lucky, and I mean “Eagle 8” in this case, because a bit of luck is needed in your case.”
Special message was conveyed to the Albanian peacekeepers in Afghanistan by the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, MGen. Jeronim Bazo.
