S. Korea chooses location of PRT base in Afghanistan: source

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has selected Charikar, the capital of the
Afghan province of Parwan, as the location to station its independent Provincial
Reconstruction Team (PRT) and security troops, a government source said Sunday.

South Korea plans to send some 350 troops to Afghanistan this year to protect
South Korean civilian workers there. It currently has dozens of workers in
Afghanistan as part of an international PRT operation, and plans to increase the
number to about 120.
"The Afghan government has recently proposed a state-owned lot on the northern
outskirts of Charikar as the site of a South Korean PRT," the government source
said, requesting anonymity. "The South Korean government has accepted the offer
following an initial inspection by Seoul officials."
"The proposed site has a mountain in the rear and a waterway and a road in the
front. The final decision will be made after a secondary inspection by South
Korean military officials."
The source said the proposed PRT site, which covers about 400,000 square meters,
is located about 2.5 kilometers north of Charikar. Parwan is directly north of
Kabul.
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