On September 1, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun called Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to thank them for their help in getting the hostages released. Karzai praised the negotiation of the South Korea government.[30] In December 2009, the South Korean defence ministry announced the army would return to Afghanistan with 350 troops in 2010 to protect South Korean civilian engineers working on reconstruction. These troops would not engage in any fighting except to protect the aid team and be backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and an unmanned reconnaissance drone to protect the 100 civilian engineers and 40 police.