"Troops' withdrawal from the mission together with NATO allies has already started and will take several months under the plan. We won’t comment on the operational details but, under the plan, all Lithuanian will return by September," Liepa Rimkeviciene, spokeswoman for the national defense minister, told BNS on Friday.
Some 40 Lithuanian troops are now serving in Afghanistan, deployed in several locations, including Kabul, its airport, Herat and Kandahar.
According to National Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, the withdrawal of Lithuanian troops from the operation in Afghanistan will take place under the mission's completion plans in close cooperation with other NATO countries involved in the mission.
NATO defense ministers made the decision to withdraw troops from the mission on April 14.