February 18, 2006: Sweden is sending some 400 troops to Afghanistan, to form the core of a PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team). Although Sweden has been militarily neutral for nearly two centuries, it has been active in contributing troops to peacekeeping missions. During the 1950-53 Korean war, it even sent a military hospital to Korea, and later in the 1950s, began providing military observers and peacekeepers in the Middle East. Sweden, like Switzerland, has a small professional armed force, augmented by a huge reserve (containing all males of military age fit for military service.) The peacekeepers are a combination of professionals, and reservists who volunteer for the duty.
