Troops To Afghanistan

South Korea announced on December 8 that it would send 350 troops to Afghanistan to accompany 100 South Korean civilian engineers to be despatched to the war-torn country. The move represents the first South Korean troop contingent sent to Afghanistan since the county pulled out its forces in the wake of the kidnap of 23 South Korean Presbyterian Christian missionaries by Taliban militants in 2007 (of whom 21 were freed in return for the country's withdrawal). The move may be an attempt to enhance South Korea's international gravitas and strengthen US ties ahead of its 2010 chairmanship of the

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