WARSAW, Poland - Poland's president said Sunday that the government has not yet decided on whether to extend the country's military mission in Iraq beyond the end of the year.
"There's still no final decision on this matter," President Lech Kaczynski told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony honoring Poles who fought against Nazi Germany during World War II.
"It depends on a lot of factors, above all on how the situation there is going to develop and how our cooperation with the United States is going to shape up."
Poland, a staunch U.S. ally, contributed combat troops to the 2003 U.S.-led war in Iraq, and has since led a multinational division south Baghdad. Some 900 Polish troops are currently stationed there training Iraqi personnel.
Late Saturday night in the southern city of Krakow, more than 100 Polish soldiers boarded a plane for Iraq as part of the latest troop rotation.
During the departure ceremony, Defense Minister Aleksander Szczyglo said he favors extending Poland's mission "because, from the security angle, the situation in Iraq certainly is not going to resolve itself that quickly," the PAP news agency reported.
Last year, the government extend its mission in Iraq until the end of 2007. Szczyglo said Saturday that a decision on whether to stay should come "in the early fall."
