By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea has begun preparations for the withdrawal of Korean forces in Afghanistan following Tuesday's agreement on the release of 19 Korean hostages with Taliban militants, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
The 210-strong non-combatant troops consisting of engineers and medics are expected to be pulled out of Afghanistan in mid-December, ending their six-year period of humanitarian work in the war-torn nation, ministry officials said.
``There is no change in our plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year,'' ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-ki told reporters, saying detailed plans for the troop pullout will be drawn up beginning next month.
Under a 2006 parliamentary motion for troop deployment to Afghanistan, Korean forces are required to return home by the end of 2007.
A senior official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said they plan to notify the United States and other coalition forces in Afghanistan of the pullout plan early next month.
``It will not take a long time to withdraw troops as the small contingent of forces have a minimum of self-defense weapons and much of their construction equipment has been leased to Afghanistan,'' the official said, asking not to be named.
Kim hinted that South Korea will not join the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan after the troop pullout.
At the request of the United States, Seoul has been considering dispatching a small group of forces to Afghanistan to help reconstruct the war-ravaged country.
PRT is an administrative unit administering international aid to Afghanistan and Iraq, consisting of civilians and military specialists who perform small construction projects or provide security for others involved in aid and reconstruction work.
PRTs were originally built and operated by the U.S. military as means of facilitating reconstruction efforts in provinces outside Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Following NATO involvement in Afghanistan, the command of the PRTs was transferred to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
``The issue of South Korea's participation in the PRT was discussed before the kidnapping case,'' Kim said. ``But the situation has changed and the government has to take various situations (involving the participation in PRT works) into account now.''
South Korea first deployed the Dongui Medical Unit to Afghanistan in September 2002 to support the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom aimed at toppling the Taliban regime that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The operation was initiated in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Islamic extremists refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, who the United States accuses of masterminding the attacks on U.S. soil. The United States also aimed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base for operations.
About 44,000 coalition forces from 44 nations are conducting military operations in Afghanistan under the command of the ISAF, JCS officials said.
The Dasan Engineering Unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2003. The Korean troops have been based in Bagram Airbase located about 50 kilometers north of Kabul. About 210 forces of the two units are stationed there.
Both locals and coalition troops have praised humanitarian and reconstruction operations by the Korean forces. The Dongui unit has provided medical services to more than 240,000 soldiers and local residents since 2002. The Dasan unit has participated in the reconstruction of roads, buildings and other infrastructure.
But the troop deployment to Afghanistan became an issue of debate after Staff Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho, 27, of the Dasan Unit lost his life in February in a suicide bomb attack. Yoon died near the main gate of Bagram Airbase when a suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device attached to his body.
He was the first soldier killed in action from a hostile attack outside of Korea since the Vietnam War.