WARSAW, , 19 (UPI) — Polish President Lech Kaczynski has ordered 1,100 soldiers to stay in Afghanistan another year as part of NATO troops battling Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents.

Former Kabul producer Bilal Sarwary left the BBC in 2006 to study in the United States. He has spent his summer holidays in Afghanistan reporting for the BBC.

A senior Iranian air force commander said his troops have prepared operational plans to retaliate against Israel’s possible air strikes on the Islamic Republic.