An Interview with Col. Piotr Łukasiewicz
Col. Łukasiewicz, Poland backed the Bush administration during the Iraq War in 2003; it has supported the ‘War on Terrorism’ in Afghanistan, where Poland with 2600 soldiers represents one of the largest European contingents in the NATO force, but it refused to participate in the NATO military intervention in Libya. Is this due to the fact that public opinion in Poland is negative about the involvement in Afghanistan? Where does the negative attitude come from and how was public opinion in 2003?
Our government expressed its views on the Libya involvement on several occasions highlighting the fact that the people of this country have the right to choose the form of their government. We were among the first nations to praise the achievements of the new Libyan authorities and support them in various political forms. Part of our EU presidency effort was connected with the situation in this country. We were among the first countries to open an embassy in Benghazi and our foreign minister visited Libya as the first European leader after the uprising against Qaddafi broke out. At the same time we stressed that in terms of military effort our priority remains in Afghanistan where with 2600 soldiers we keep one of the biggest European contingents and maintain the responsibility for the crucial Ghazni province. Again I wouldn’t connect our Afghanistan engagement with our position on Libya – it is a different matter: we keep a military focus in Afghanistan and maintain civil engagement in Libya. This status is more in line with the limitations of our armed forces, which are still in a state of development, and with the economic conditions.
Before we start to assess public opinion on our Afghanistan engagement it is worth to mention that around 40% of the surveyed population understands that our priority in the ISAF mission is to strengthen NATO as a pillar of European security. Of course, the ISAF mission is highly unpopular, nonetheless people seem to appreciate its importance to our own security system and to the political goals we want to achieve.
Does this mean that Poland will be more reluctant to take part in military operations and does this mean a change of policy (more independence from US policy) and has this anything to do with Obama’s apparent disinterest in the placement of a nuclear shield’ in Poland? Or was it rather a smart move in Polish-US relations as the US did not push for the Libya operation?
For the full interview, please click on the PDF button at the top of the page.
Colonel Piotr Lukasiewicz is Advisor and Plenipotentiary of the Minister of National Defence on Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan. He is co-author of the national strategy for Polish involvement in Afghanistan („Directions for Polish engagement in Afghanistan”) and proposed several initiatives regarding the Polish political and military position in the ISAF efforts to stabilise Afghanistan. A graduate of the Cybernetics Faculty of the Military Academy, he served in the Polish Military Contingent in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. Also in 2005 he took part in the reconnaissance mission and later the information support team in Pakistan during the NATO response to the Kashmir earthquake disaster. In 2006 Col. Lukasiewicz started his diplomatic career, serving as military personnel of the Polish Embassies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Especially his 3 years tour of Afghanistan provided him with an insightful view on this country, its issues, culture and tradition and a strong devotion to serve and support its peaceful stabilisation.