Destination: Afghanistan

The body of John Felipe Romero, the Colombian soldier that died in Afghanistan on February the first when the Spaniard contingent he was part of came across an anti personnel mine installed by the Taliban, arrived last week to the country. He was 21 and three years ago he left his poor neighborhood in Soacha (near the capital city, Bogotá) to live in Spain with his parents and brothers. It is paradoxical that the soldier died days after the Colombian Foreign Affairs minister, Jaime Bermúdez, announced that Colombian troops will be part of NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Colombia has been cooperating with Afghanistan through the United States. As it is well known, the U.S. considers very valuable the experience that the South American country has in fighting against drug dealers and irregular armed forces, and destroying an anti personnel mines. The idea is that this knowledge can be applied in other conflicts. The first group to go to Afghanistan will be formed by 100 soldiers, most of them from special forces, that would be divided into two contingents: the one with NATO and the one with the U.S. forces. “Participation is voluntary”, says the leader of Colombian Military Forces, general Freddy Padilla de León.

Even though the final group has not been selected, there are some people who have already started their training and are waiting for the problem that has the mission obstructed to be solved: soldiers’ immunity in Afghan territory. Nowadays there is no pact with Afghanistan about the immunity of the soldiers, and Colombian government will only agree to send the soldiers with the same conditions that troops from other countries, like the U.S., have.

Colombian government says that there is not an agreement about this yet because of formal procedures. But some analysts think that it is a matter of trust. Laura Gil states that the White House is not sure to send the Colombian troops, and the United Nations has kept silent in other times when Colombia has offered its soldiers. The apparent reason is human rights’ violation by people from the military in Colombia. Bermúdez says that, otherwise, an army needs to be professional to go to Afghanistan, like the Colombian one: “The agreement is done, the only thing left is a diplomatic letter”.

The topic its being treated in the strictest confidence and has not led to a public or political debate. Experts say that these kind of missions are very important because they modernize and internationalize the militaries. This happened in the 1950’s when Colombia sent troops to the Korean war. But Afghanistan is a difficult and squalid place. The U.S. accept that the future there is uncertain, and the number of killings is growing: in 2009 2.412 civilians and 502 soldiers were killed.

Daniel Ospina, a 22 year old guy from Medellín that was in the same contingent that Romero and is recovering from the injuries after the anti personnel mine exploded, said to the Spaniard newspaper El País that Afghanistan is “not like Medellín, where some kids ask for coins in the streets. There they beg for water or food”.

Although general Padilla says that the main incentives for Colombian soldiers to go to Afghanistan are “honour” and “glory”, many people are asking if that is worthy. Romero was buried like a hero by the Spaniard government. Who knows if he understood what the war is about.