Around 120 Colombian soldiers will go to Afghanistan by September the
latest, the country’s Defense Minister said Thursday. Colombia will
mostly focus on drug trafficking and landmine destruction.
The Colombian soldiers “will detect and destruct landmines and work against drug trafficking,” Colombia’s Defense Minister, Freddy Padilla de Leon, said after a meeting with officials of Afghanistan. The Colombian police has already started teaching Afghan officers about anti-drug operations.
According to newspaper El Tiempo, Padilla de Leon dismissed rumors that Colombian troops might be directly fightig against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Colombians will serve under the NATO flag but Spanish command in Afghanistan