Afghan president meets Finnish FM on ties

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has met with visiting Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini, the country's Presidential Palace said on Tuesday.

During the meeting which took place on Monday afternoon, the two sides discussed the bilateral ties and agreed to further strengthen ties and expand cooperation in different fields, the palace said in a statement.

"Timo Soini reaffirmed the commitment of his country to strengthening security cooperation with Afghanistan in the framework of (NATO-led) Resolute Support Mission," the statement added.

It said that Soini has reiterated his country's continued support to Afghanistan, saying Finland will assist Afghanistan in areas of economic development, education and development programs.

During the meeting President Ghani has expressed appreciation to the government and people of Finland for their support to Afghanistan at Warsaw and Brussels Conferences.

The two international conferences on Afghanistan -- Warsaw in July and Brussels early this month -- had focused on security and development in the war-torn country.

The Finnish top diplomat also reaffirmed his country's cooperation commitments with Afghanistan through 2020.

He noted that Afghanistan lies on the front-line of the war on terrorism and stressed joint cooperation against the phenomenon.

The NATO and U.S. troops completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence in the country.

But some 13,000 foreign troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan for the Resolute Support (RS) mission to help Afghan forces in the fields of training, advising and backing them in the war on insurgents.

Some 30 Finnish soldiers have been serving within the RS mission in the central Asian country. Enditem