Kudos to the government of Bangladesh for stepping up to the plate and offering to send Bangladeshi troops to Afghanistan. The foreign minister placed this proposal before Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, the home minister of Afghanistan, while already in a meeting with him in Bali.
At a time when other nations are starting to pull back their military forces, and the war-ravaged nation is in dire need of assistance and expertise, Bangladesh has made a gracious move. Plans are in place to send its retired and serving defence officials who have prior UN experience, as well as expert female police trainers, who will guide and train the Afghan female police officers. These plans also include Bangladesh sharing its hard-earned experience in agriculture, social welfare, women empowerment, health, and primary education.
This is nothing new for our nation, which has a history of sending troops and law enforcement officers overseas to aid in defence and in rebuilding efforts. The first nation to send troops in 1991, as part of the UN coalition, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Bangladesh has also sent police forces to Bosnia, as part of UN peace-keeping efforts, as well as elsewhere. This move by the government will not only boost regional cooperation, but also put this nation in a positive light before the world. Considering that its image has always been of a flood-ravaged poverty-stricken nation, and, recently, strife-ridden as well, no thanks to the political violence, this move comes at a good time.
