Text Fwd: U.S. not to transfer troops in S. Korea to Afghanistan

Yonhap News
U.S. not to transfer troops in S. Korea to Afghanistan

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. will not transfer its troops stationed in South Korea to Afghanistan, a government source said Thursday, dismissing speculation that Washington could adjust the number of soldiers here to increase its forces in the war-torn country.

"Wallace Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asian Pacific affairs, told ranking officials in our defense ministry Wednesday morning that there will be no such case in which the U.S. would transfer its troops here for Afghanistan, just hours before Obama announced his dispatch plan," the ministry source said on condition of anonymity.

The confirmation comes after U.S. President Barack Obama's recent announcement of a plan to pour 30,000 more soldiers into Afghanistan, with the aim of starting a pullout in July 2011 to end the increasingly unpopular war.

Speculation over the dispatch plan for Afghanistan has been brewing since his visit to Korea last month, when he hinted that U.S. troops stationed here are subject to rotation for deployment to the war-torn country.

The U.S. has 28,500 troops in Korea as a deterrent against North Korea. U.S. troops were deployed from the 2nd Infantry Division to Iraq in 2004 to boost operations there in the form of rotation without a reduction in the troop size here.

The U.S. official reconfirmed that the U.S. will keep its troops at the current level in South Korea as promised before by Washington, the source added.

(END)


* Related blog:

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/11/text-fwd-obama-hints-at-rotating-troops.html
Friday, November 20, 2009
Text Fwd: Obama Hints at Rotating Troops in South Korea to Afghanistan