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US, Indonesia agree to resume training for Kopassus
The US cut all ties with Kopassus in the 1990s following alleged human rights abuses such as in the then Indonesian province of East Timor and during the 1998 reform movement.
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Soldiers of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) K-9 unit put their dogs through their paces during the forces’ anniversary celebration in Cijantung, East Jakarta, in this file photo. (The Jakarta Post/P.J. Leo)
T
he United States and Indonesia have agreed to improve their defense cooperation, especially in medical rehabilitation and ways to resume ties with the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus).
“It is my personal request so that Kopassus can resume training with American soldiers,” Defense Minister Ryamiard Ryacudu told a joint press conference with acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Michael Shanahan on Thursday.
“Insya Allah [God willing] quite soon.”
The US cut all ties with Kopassus in the 1990s following alleged human rights abuses such as in the then Indonesian province of East Timor and during the 1998 reform movement.
Shanahan said he hoped that training with Kopassus’ Satgultor 81 antiterror unit could be carried out in 2020.
The previous US defense secretary James “Jim” Norman Mattis said during a visit to Jakarta in 2018 that he would push to reestablish ties with Kopassus.
A number of Indonesian Army officers with a Kopassus background had been barred from entering the US.
