S. Korea may help finance Afghan troops training: U.S. report

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is expected to share the financial burden
for training Afghan troops in the coming years, a recent U.S. congressional
report said, amid media speculation that Seoul may consider providing military
contributions to the reconstruction of the war-ravaged nation.
The U.S. government of Barack Obama plans to expand the number of soldiers in the
Afghan National Army (ANA) to 134,000 by 2011 -- essentially a continuation of
the Bush administration's expansion plan -- and is preparing to send 4,000 U.S.
trainers to Afghanistan, said the report by the Congressional Research Service
(CRS). Titled "Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy,"
the report was released late last month but obtained by Yonhap News Agency on
Thursday.
"The funds for the expansion -- about $12 billion in that time frame -- are
expected to come mainly from the United States, possibly defrayed by partner
contributions by Japan, Germany, South Korea, or other donors," it said.
The report said the expansion to 134,000 is an interim step towards a later
decision for a further increase.
South Korea announced last week that it will spend US$19.5 million to build a
hospital and a job training center in Afghanistan by the end of this year and
increase the number of its workers there to around 85 from the current 25.
South Korea said it will push for additional assistance on a middle- and
long-term basis.
The Hankyoreh newspaper reported early this month that the U.S. government had
delivered a request for Seoul's aid in Afghanistan, including the re-dispatch of
troops, through diplomatic channels in April.
The request was made shortly after a visit to Seoul by Richard Holbrooke, the
U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the newspaper cited an
unidentified source as saying. It said South Korea may make the decision on troop
dispatch around June 16, the scheduled date for the summit between South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak and Obama.
Some other newspapers also said that South Korea and the U.S. may discuss the
troop dispatch issue in their regular working-level military consultations,
slated for Thursday and Friday in Washington, called the Security Policy
Initiative (SPI).
South Korean government officials denied the news reports but they said that they
are well aware of Washington's desperate need for military help from its allies.
"It is still too early to talk about whether we will send troops to Afghanistan,"
a foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity. "It is a matter
that requires prudent consideration of public opinion and international trends."
In 2004, South Korea sent thousands of troops to Iraq to assist the U.S.-led
campaign there despite strong opposition from critics. The troops were brought
back home last year.
South Korea also withdrew about 200 military medics and engineers from
Afghanistan in 2007, ending a mission that lasted several years, just months
after 23 South Korean church members were kidnapped by the Taliban. Two of the
hostages were eventually executed, while the rest were released following Seoul's
reaffirmation of its plan to withdraw its troops from the country by the year's
end as scheduled.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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