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February 10, 2012
US 'accepts' German troop increase
Published: 27 Jan 10 09:06 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100127-24839.html
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle defended the government’s new Afghanistan plan on Wednesday, saying that the US was happy with Germany’s contribution.
- Berlin sending 500 extra troops to Afghanistan - National (26 Jan 10)
“It has been met with a lot of acceptance,” Westerwelle told public broadcaster ZDF, describing a phone call he had with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Our allies know how strongly Germany is engaged.”
The US administration had pressured Germany to contribute more troops and back its surge of an additional 30,000 soldiers.
But Westerwelle also told ZDF there was no purely military solution for Afghanistan.
“We must employ a change in strategy,” he said. “We must create more prospects and focus on the reconciliation and reintegration of Afghanistan.”
German troops currently form the third-largest contingent in the 110,000-strong international force behind the United States and Britain, with the upper limit capped by parliament at 4,500 soldiers.
Berlin currently has around 4,300 troops in the struggling country, the bulk of them in the north.
With the addition of 350 extra reservists, who could be deployed for a limited period of time, the upper limit for Germany would rise to around 5,350 troops.
On Tuesday, Berlin stressed that it would begin this year to hand over responsibilities to the Afghan government this year, and that it wanted its soldiers to start coming home in 2011 - a target shared by US President Barack Obama.
AFP/DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
...KSK operators HALO drop from ~40k up and laze targets for American MQ-9's.... (then spend the rest of their time doing "other stuff".
1. "only built schools"?? Why do u think we (the west) currently find ourselves in our present predicament? (answer=failure to build schools and sh!t the first time around in Afghanistan)
2) you say teaching kids that there is "another alternative to violence" as if its a bad thing...What do you think they teach at those Saudi (Wahabi) madrassas? (I can pretty much guarantee you that Gandi is not an adjunct professor at any of them)
it was your comment that demeaned the teaching of kids as ineffective!
I did??!! How so? I'm talking about combat effectiveness. Since when are soldiers supposed to be school teachers??