Warsaw - Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next month to discuss Afghanistan and a new US proposal for a missile shield, the Polish Press Agency PAP reported on Wednesday. Sikorski and Clinton are also set to discuss Polish-American relations and their strategic partnership.
Besides Clinton, Sikorski will meet with John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during his three-day visit, set to start November 2.
The visit comes amid a report from the daily Wyborcza that Poland would add 600 additional soldiers to its mission of 2,000 in Afghanistan.
Poland recently said it was ready to participate in a new US missile shield project in Eastern Europe after US President Barack Obama announced in September that Washington was abandoning a previous missile shield to be jointly hosted in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Obama is opting for a system to meet short- and medium-range threats in place of a more advanced system offered Poland by the Bush administration.
The decision was welcomed by Russia, which saw a long-range system as a threat to its nuclear deterrent. But Polish commentators voiced concern, noting that the decision could mean Washington valued good relations with Russia more than keeping promises to Warsaw.
US Vice President Joe Biden was in Warsaw on October 21 in a visit aimed at mending frayed relations with Central and East European states.
