By Tong Kim
While President Barrack Obama is yet to announce his new strategy on Afghanistan and has yet to determine whether to increase the number of U.S. troops fighting the emboldening Taliban insurgents in the world's worst shooting battle today, the South Korean government has decided to dispatch military troops to support the troubled U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.
President Lee Myung-bak's decision to send troops to Afghanistan was a politically difficult one. However, the decision was an overdue corollary of his vision of ``the strategic alliance with the United States" and his policy of expanding Korea's roles in global and transnational issues. He has often said Korea should carry out its international responsibility commensurate to its enhanced status in terms of national capacity.
According to the Seoul government's plan, about 270 to 280 ``police" and military troops will be sent to Afghanistan to protect a Korean Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) that will be established with about 180 civil affairs specialists within a six-month period. The government has not specified an exact timeline of deployment or a specific provincial area of operation for the Korean PRT that is in the making.
Currently, South Korea has 25 medical and job training personnel, who are operating out of the U.S. Air Force base in Bagram, north of Kabul, where they are protected by the U.S. forces. The Seoul government plans to expand its reconstruction assistance program at Bagram by adding about 60 more people, and it will open a new PRT of a bigger size in a different Afghan province.
In early November, a Korean interagency fact-finding team will visit Afghanistan to consult the Afghan government and NATO officials involved in stabilization and reconstruction programs. Based on the team's findings, the Seoul government will decide on a preferred province for Korean operations and the size of troops, and the types of equipment that will be required for force protection.
In the meantime, the National Defense Ministry is already undertaking the task of selecting troops to deploy from the Special Warfare Command units, which have experience in operations in foreign lands, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Korean troops will not be directly involved in offensive operations against the Taliban insurgents, they should be prepared to engage insurgents or terrorists in fighting if they are attacked. Koreans will be in harm's way and there is risk of suffering casualties.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Korean government provided air and sealift support for the U.S. mop-up operations against the remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2002, South Korea dispatched a medical unit to the war-torn country. In 2003, Seoul sent an Army engineer unit to help reconstruct Afghanistan.
In December 2007, South Korea withdrew all of its 200 troops after accepting the Taliban's demand as the condition for releasing 23 South Korean Christian missionaries who the Taliban had kidnapped in July that year. Two had been beheaded by the kidnappers. Earlier, a Korean Army sergeant was killed in a bomb attack by the Taliban.
Today's situation in Afghanistan does not look good. The United States and its allies are fighting there for the ninth year, but no clear prospect of exit is in sight, contrary to Obama's campaign pledge to bring troops home. Yet, Afghanistan is not another Vietnam. Unlike the Soviet Union that had failed in its attempts to occupy Afghanistan, the U.S. has been working to build a sustainable Afghan government to deny the insurgents renewed breeding grounds for terrorism, and to train Afghan troops to defend their people.
Taliban troops have grown to an estimated number of 25,000, not counting part-time troops and collaborators. General Stanley McCrystal, the commander of the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, is seeking an additional 45,000 U.S. troops, which will bring the total of U.S. troops to more than 100,000. In addition, there are 39,000 coalition troops from 40 other countries carrying out stabilization and reconstruction operations.
A total number of Korean personnel, including military soldiers, could be close to 500, and it will take about five to six months before they will be deployed, even if everything goes as smoothly as the government hopes. Perhaps the biggest hurdle to jump over is to get approval from the National Assembly, required by the law for sending troops abroad. The people have not forgotten the terrifying experience with the Taliban terrorists in 2007.
The main opposition Democratic Party has said it will review the administration's proposal, but it made clear that the opposition party is reluctant to send troops abroad except for the purpose of U.N. peacekeeping operations. Perhaps it would have been easier for the administration to get the national legislature's support, if it had gone through a process of public discussion to build support.
The Korean public had long been aware of the U.S. desire for Korea's substantive support for the coalition efforts in Afghanistan. Yet, Washington has prudently avoided any public statement asking for Korea's assistance. Even the latest U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting Joint Communiqu? of Oct. 23 did not mention Afghanistan, despite its subtle reference to "stabilization and reconstruction efforts."
It is also interesting to note that the foreign ministry's spokesman, in announcing the decision for troop dispatch, emphasized a ``repeated request" from the Afghan government for Korea's support ― without mentioning the United States in the matter.
The Korean press quickly reported that the Lee government tried to avoid any impression that Seoul was making the decision under pressure from Washington. The government chose the timing of the announcement weeks ahead of the planned U.S. presidential visit to Seoul in November.
President Lee's recent proposal of a ``grand bargain" ― which has some merits ― largely appeared to insist on Seoul's role in the denuclearization process. Lee's support for U.S. efforts in Afghanistan will be helpful in strengthening Korea's voice in the alliance with the United States and in other global security issues, including North Korean nuclear weapons.
South Korea cannot have it both ways. The United States is keeping 28,500 troops in Korea to fulfill its defense commitment to the South. If Seoul wants to implement a vision of a strategic alliance and its increased international roles, the burden of sending a modest number of troops to support the coalition efforts in Afghanistan should not be too much to bear. President Lee made the right decision. He should aggressively persuade the public and the National Assembly. What's your take?
Tong Kim is a research professor with the Ilmin Institute of International Relations at Korea University and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He can be reached at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.