Poland is considering deploying up to 200 extra troops in Afghanistan to reinforce a 2,000-strong contingent, the army said on Tuesday.
"A decision must be made about the number of soldiers — how many of the 200 — and the date of their deployment," army spokesman Colonel Dariusz Kacperczyk told Poland's TVN24 news channel.
"They will be deployed in combat operations and to reinforce the combat capability of the Polish contingent," he added.
Poland has created a back-up force of 200 soldiers ready for deployment in Afghanistan to join a 65,000-strong international security assistance force, known as ISAF drawn and which is drawn from 42 nations.
The announcement comes after the discovery of the body of a Polish officer who had disappeared Monday following an insurgent attack on a joint Polish-Afghan military patrol in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni.
The captain is Poland's 10th fatal casualty in Afghanistan.
The Afghan defence ministry said Monday that the ambush had killed three Afghan soldiers and two policemen. Four Polish troops were injured.
The attack in the central province of Ghazni comes amid a spike in attacks by Taliban insurgents that authorities fear could stop Afghans from casting their ballots in August 20 presidential and provincial council elections.
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