Germany plans to send 500 additional troops to Afghanistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Feb 14, IRNA
Germany-Afghanistan-Troops
The German government has reportedly succumbed to intense US pressure and agreed to dispatch at least 500 additional soldiers to Afghanistan, the daily Die Welt newspaper said Thursday.
The troop increase has to be approved by the parliament since under the current mandate -- due to end October 2008 -- the German government is only authorized to station up to 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung and the whips of the co-governing Christian Democratic Union party and the Social Democratic Party, Volker Kauder and Peter Struck were scheduled to discuss the parliamentary mandate change, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper said.
The latest developments come only a few days after the German Defense Ministry denied press reports about plans for boosting the number of troops in Afghanistan by 1,000 soldiers.
The German media reported that Berlin had consented to boosting its troop size from 3,500 to 4,500 and expand its zone of deployment westward.
Earlier this month, German politicians expressed outrage over the sending of a "stern" letter by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, calling for the deployment of German troops in southern Afghanistan where revitalized Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents are fighting fierce battles with NATO troops.
Gates' eight-page letter demanded 3,200 German soldiers, including combat forces, helicopters and parachutists, to replace US counter-insurgency soldiers later this year to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.
There are 3,500 German ISAF soldiers based in relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan.
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