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Helsinki (AFP) Nov 17, 2010 Nearly half of Finns want their troops withdrawn from Afghanistan, although a large majority is in favour of Finland continuing to help rebuild civil society in the war-torn country, a poll showed Wednesday. In the first poll to ask whether Finland should maintain its military presence in Afghanistan, 48 percent of respondents said the Nordic country should end it. Forty-six percent meanwhile said they thought the troops should remain in Afghanistan, according to the Taloustutkimus poll of 1,017 people, commissioned by a division of the Finnish defence ministry. A majority of Finns, 67 percent, want their country to keep a presence in Afghanistan. Among these, 77 percent said they wanted Finland to participate in putting in place a democracy and build up civil society in Afghanistan. Out of those wanting Finland to be involved in Afghanistan, 67 percent want Finland to take part in Afghan police training and 53 percent want their country to train the Afghan army. But almost a third of the population, 27 percent, want Finland to stop all involvement in Afghanistan. Finnish soldiers were deployed in the NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in 2002, mostly in the north of the country. One soldier was killed in 2007. There are currently some 150 Finnish troops serving with ISAF, and the number will be brought to 195 in May 2001, Finnish defence ministry spokesman Jyrki Iivonen told AFP.
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