Prague, June 17 (DPA) The Czech parliament’s upper house Wednesday agreed to keep up to 1,085 troops in NATO missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo in 2010.
The Senate voted 64-2 to deploy up to 535 soldiers in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan next year, up from the 2009 limit of 480 troops.

The chamber also allowed around 550 Czech troops to stay in Kosovo under NATO’s KFOR mission, in line with this year’s mandate.

Senators approved the military deployments a day after the lower house gave its nod to the plan.

They also agreed to dispatch a handful of troops to four other missions, including the European Union’s Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Atalanta anti-pirate mission active off the Somali coast.

The bicameral parliament also allowed the government to deploy several hundred troops within the NATO’s Response Force next year if needed.