200 Korean Soldiers Stationed in Afghanistan

By Jung Sung-ki

Staff Reporter

About 200 South Korean troops of the Dasan Engineering Unit and Dongui Medical Unit are stationed in the war-ravaged Central Asian nation on humanitarian and rehabilitation operations as part of international coalition forces led by the U.S. and NATO.

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.

About 18 foreign nations are participating in the 2001 U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom against the Taliban, a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim regime that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

The operation was aimed at removing the Taliban from power because of its refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden for his involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks and disrupting the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations.

Taliban militants are engaged in a protracted guerrilla war against the coalition forces and the incumbent government of Afghanistan backed by the United States.

The coalition includes the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. South Korea joined the coalition in 2002 at the request of the United States.