KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is sending military personnel to Afghanistan for the first time to provide medical and humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged country, officials said on Thursday.

Twelve personnel were scheduled to leave for Afghanistan later on Thursday and 28 others will join them by September, said Lt. Col. Salawati Yahaya, a Malaysian defense ministry representative.

The troops, who include doctors and paramedics, are expected to be deployed for between six to nine months in Bamiyan province northeast of the capital, Kabul, to work with New Zealand's 140-strong provincial reconstruction team there.