TBILISI, June 23 (RIA Novosti) - One company of the Georgian Defense Ministry's second brigade will head to Afghanistan by the fall to join international security operations in the country, the ministry said Tuesday.

Spokesman David Nadaraya said the company will operate in the Kabul province under the command of French forces.

Nadaraya added that in 2010 one battalion of the third brigade would be sent there to participate in counter-terrorist operations.

Georgia applied to NATO in June 2007 proposing it send a peacekeeping contingent to Afghanistan. NATO approved the suggestion at a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, and in July of that year the Georgian Defense Ministry said it planned to send 300 peacekeepers to Afghanistan by late 2008.

In October 2008, Tbilisi confirmed the decision to send soldiers to Afghanistan, but indicated that the contingent would not be as big as planned.

Fifty Georgian servicemen took part in an operation in Afghanistan in September-December 2004.