• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Germany to begin gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan in late 2011

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Berlin, Feb 26, IRNA -- German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday his country would start cutting troop levels in Afghanistan late next year only hours after the German parliament approved a new enlarged Afghan military mandate.

Meeting with the press in Berlin, Westerwelle said "the first contingents of the
Bundeswehr" (German army) will begin to withdraw in "late 2011."

The process of turning over security responsibility to the Afghan government should start "late this year or early next year," the minister added.

Westerwelle reiterated that the Afghan people should be in "full security control of their country by 2014."

He warned however against setting a fixed pullout date for German troops from Afghanistan.

The minister announced also plans for an international Afghanistan conference in Kabul for "either May or June."

The confab is to focus on various aspects in the war-stricken country, among them reintegration and reconcialiation as well as rebuilding, according to Westerwelle.

Meanwhile, he welcomed the decision of the German lawmakers to approve the new Afghan mandate, saying it was of "very special siginificance."

Westerwelle added that "a new chapter" had been opened in his country's Afghanistan policy.

Under the new mandate, around 500 of those fresh troops are to be dispatched directly to join the 4,500-strong German military force contingent, deployed mostly in northern Afghanistan and Kabul as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

In addition, some 350 soldiers would be maintained as a "flexible reserve", to be used to provide extra security in political events like the parliamentary election, scheduled for fall.

Furthermore, some 1,400 German troops will be responsible for training local
police and military - up from 280 at present.

In other related news, the German minister strongly condemned the Taliban attacks on a hotel and guest house in Kabul which killed at least 15 people.

He expressed his condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

OT**1420

End News / IRNA / News Code 981812