By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The government decided Tuesday to send a provincial reconstruction team comprised of private experts to Afghanistan when it pulls out Korean troops there by the end of this year.
The team consisting of 30 doctors, nurses and pharmacists will take over the Dongui Medical Unit, which has conducted medical services since September 2002.
The government has submitted the plan to the National Assembly.
``At the request of the Afghan government to keep helping in the reconstruction of the war-devastated nation, we decided to send the provincial reconstruction team,'' a government official said on condition of anonymity. ``The first members of the team will leave for Afghanistan next month to take over the Dongui Medical Unit.''
The official further said that while the currently envisioned team is comprised of 20 to 30 people, the number of personnel can be increased, depending on the local situation.
The medical team will stay in the U.S. airbase in Bagram, about 50 kilometers north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, where Korean troops have been stationed,.
However, some civic groups criticized the government move, saying the government is just replacing the soldiers with civilians for the same recovery job.
Particularly, the civic groups were concerned that the plan may breach Korea's agreement with the Taliban insurgents, who kidnapped and released Korean Christians after some 40 days in captivity on the condition that Korea withdrew its troops by 2007.
The insurgents killed two out of the 21 Korean hostages, who went to Afghanistan to offer voluntary medical services.