A government source said Monday officials from the US Central Command, including General Thomas Franks have repeatedly requested Korean liaison officers for either a battalion, or if this was impossible, a company of combat troops to serve in Afghanistan alongside coalition forces. In addition, it requested the deployment there of a mine clearing unit and its German made equipment, recently used to clear the Seoul Shinuiju railway, as well as part of a heavy equipment maintenance team and its guards currently stationed in Kirgistan.
The source said officers expressed an indirect refusal, by asking their US counterparts to submit a government level official request through the countries foreign ministries, adding that National Assembly approval would be doubtful. He continued the repeated requests amounted to indirect pressure for deployment.
The US move is seen to have been made because the terms of many multinational forces in the region are ending, and its determination to involve as many nations as possible in its war on terrorism. At the end of last year Washington allegedly called for a special forces unit deployment to Afghanistan, and earlier this year, the sending of the same, engineers and a C-130 transport aircraft to the Philippines.
Currently the ROK military has a 90-member medical support unit placed in Kirgistan, and four C-130s and a navy LST in support of US logictics operations in the region.
(Yoo Yong-won, kysu@chosun.com)
