US military experts to return to Vietnam - this time to train
WASHINGTON - US military experts will return to Vietnam to train its soldiers, under an agreement struck during Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's landmark visit to Washington.
Khai is the most senior Vietnamese official to visit the United States since the end of the Vietnam War 30 years ago, which left 58,000 US troops and at least three million Vietnamese civilians and soldiers dead.
"We have agreed that Vietnam will take part in the IMET military training program," Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, who is accompanying Khai on his week long trip, told the Washington Times, referring to an International Military Education and Training (IMET) accord signed by Hanoi and the
Pentagon this week.
American military specialists will provide medical, technical and language support to Vietnam under the program, aimed at promoting military-to-military relations between the United States and foreign countries.
"At the initial stage, we will receive support in training our military in terms of English, and some of the medical staff and technical staff," Khoan said.
"Both sides see this as another step in the development of normal bilateral military relations," he said, adding that the agreement "will open the door to more exchanges and opportunities of mutual value."
Defense spokesman Greg Hicks said that details of the IMET working-level proposal still had to be worked out.
"It could include a more robust military-to-military relationship," he said. He declined to give further details.
But Khoan said there was no desire to talk about establishing US bases in Vietnam.
US
President George W. Bush welcomed Khai to the White House and thanked him for his government's cooperation on locating and repatriating the remains of US military personnel killed during the Vietnam war.
"It's very comforting to many families here in America to understand that the government is providing information to help close a sad chapter in their lives," said the president.
Agence France Presse - June 24, 2005.
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