ID :
27674
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/27674
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea asked to up contribution to Afghanistan: official
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States has asked South Korea to provide "training, equipment and financial assistance" to help promote stability in Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are gaining strength, a State Department official said Thursday.
The official, requesting anonymity, would not elaborate, but South Korean
officials have said the U.S. has asked for police officers to train Afghan police
forces.
U.S. President George W. Bush asked for "noncombat help" to Afghanistan in August
when he met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The request comes amid a worsening situation in the central Asian state where the
Taliban militia have been regaining influence.
The U.S. government is moving to add thousands more troops to the current
32,000-strong contingent in Afghanistan in the coming months while reducing U.S.
soldiers in Iraq, where sectarian violence has reduced greatly.
Germany, France and several other U.S. allies are sending more troops to
Afghanistan, and Washington has reportedly asked Tokyo to dispatch several
transportation airplanes and helicopters there.
South Korean ambassador Lee Tae-sik recently said talks on a possible dispatch of
police forces to Afghanistan "are at a standstill as we have difficulty in
sending that kind of people."
South Korea withdrew about 200 military medics and engineers from Afghanistan
last year, months after 23 South Korean church workers were kidnapped by the
Taliban. Two were killed and the rest released following Seoul's promise to
withdraw the troops by year's end.
A South Korean soldier stationed in Bagram, 80km north of Kabul, was killed in a
terrorist bombing in February last year.
After the pullout, South Korea has maintained about two dozen medical staff and
vocational training experts in the region.
At an annual defense ministers' meeting here earlier this month, U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates thanked South Korea for its "continued support in
Afghanistan with the Korea Medical and Vocational Training Team in Bagram" in
northern Iraq.
Seoul officials have said they will make a decision on the issue after the
planned pullout of 520 South Korean troops from Iraq in December.
After a four year-service in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, the Korean troops
are set to come back home as the security situation there has stabilized and the
U.S. has not made any request for an extended stay.
The likely decision also coincides with the election of a new U.S. president in
November.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States has asked South Korea to provide "training, equipment and financial assistance" to help promote stability in Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are gaining strength, a State Department official said Thursday.
The official, requesting anonymity, would not elaborate, but South Korean
officials have said the U.S. has asked for police officers to train Afghan police
forces.
U.S. President George W. Bush asked for "noncombat help" to Afghanistan in August
when he met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The request comes amid a worsening situation in the central Asian state where the
Taliban militia have been regaining influence.
The U.S. government is moving to add thousands more troops to the current
32,000-strong contingent in Afghanistan in the coming months while reducing U.S.
soldiers in Iraq, where sectarian violence has reduced greatly.
Germany, France and several other U.S. allies are sending more troops to
Afghanistan, and Washington has reportedly asked Tokyo to dispatch several
transportation airplanes and helicopters there.
South Korean ambassador Lee Tae-sik recently said talks on a possible dispatch of
police forces to Afghanistan "are at a standstill as we have difficulty in
sending that kind of people."
South Korea withdrew about 200 military medics and engineers from Afghanistan
last year, months after 23 South Korean church workers were kidnapped by the
Taliban. Two were killed and the rest released following Seoul's promise to
withdraw the troops by year's end.
A South Korean soldier stationed in Bagram, 80km north of Kabul, was killed in a
terrorist bombing in February last year.
After the pullout, South Korea has maintained about two dozen medical staff and
vocational training experts in the region.
At an annual defense ministers' meeting here earlier this month, U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates thanked South Korea for its "continued support in
Afghanistan with the Korea Medical and Vocational Training Team in Bagram" in
northern Iraq.
Seoul officials have said they will make a decision on the issue after the
planned pullout of 520 South Korean troops from Iraq in December.
After a four year-service in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, the Korean troops
are set to come back home as the security situation there has stabilized and the
U.S. has not made any request for an extended stay.
The likely decision also coincides with the election of a new U.S. president in
November.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
