Afghanistan Ambassador Calls Korea

Afghanistan expects bigger Korean role, at least this is what Afghanistan Ambassador Mohammad Karim Rahimi said. In an interview with The Korea Times the Ambassador hoped that Korea would take an active role in assisting Afghanistan. Korean troops were deployed during 2002 in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and stayed until last December. Korea decided not to renew the deployment. However, last month, the Korean government announced it would dispatch a dozen policemen to Afghanistan for training purposes.

The Ambassador went on to point out that security is still the biggest challenge in Afghanistan. He stressed terrorist threats in Afghanistan were a threat to the region and, at large, to the world, implying full-fledged action against it on the international level is needed to tackle the problem. The Ambassador stated: "Terrorism is an enemy of humankind. No matter where you live, in Korea, the U.S. or France. As human beings we need to join our hands to get rid of the common enemy." No secret there and it would be assisted solved effectively by the increasing presence of the international community. Most importantly for the U.S., it would lessen this country's stance of largely going it alone and Korea should increase its involvement to be more of a regional power.

To date, nearly 40 (NATO and some non-NATO) countries have a military presence in Afghanistan under the UN resolution working for reconstruction and stability of the war-torn country. In June 2008, member states of G8, neighboring countries and other countries that have contributed to Afghan reconstruction will meet at the Paris Conference.