[R-G] Germany Plans to Raise Troop Level for Afghanistan

[Anthony Fenton]

06/24/2008 01:03 PM
AN EXTRA 1,000 SOLDIERS
Germany Plans to Raise Troop Level for Afghanistan
     * http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,561669,00.html

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung confirmed on Tuesday that  
Germany is planning on increasing the number of troops stationed in  
Afghanistan by 1,000.

A German jeep with the ISAF force in Afghanistan patrols the Marmal  
foothills in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Getty Images

A German jeep with the ISAF force in Afghanistan patrols the Marmal  
foothills in Mazar-i-Sharif.
The German government plans to send 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.  
Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung announced Tuesday that  
Berlin wanted to increase the country's troop contingent to 4,500 by  
the fall -- up from the Berlin-imposed 3,500 ceiling that has been in  
place for years.

The government also wants the new troop mandate to run until December  
2009, so that the politically sensitive issue would be kept out of  
next year's election campaign. Up till now the troop mandate, which  
this year expires on October 13, has been renewed every 12 months by  
Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. Elections in 2009  
are scheduled for Sept. 27.

"The increase is necessary to give us more flexibility to respond to  
challenges," Jung told reporters at a news conference in Berlin. "But  
the upper limit of 4,500 does not mean that they will all be deployed  
at once."

Any increase in troop numbers will have to be approved by the  
Bundestag. But, Germany's grand coalition government -- which pairs  
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats with the Social  
Democrats -- should have no trouble securing enough votes for the  
increase. Many in the opposition are also in favor of the increase,  
with only the Left Party coming out against it.

Jung said one of the main reasons for the raising of troop levels was  
that the German army was planning to triple the amount of training it  
offered to Afghan troops. On top of that, Jung added, it was necessary  
to have reserves in northern Afghanistan to replace troops from other  
partner nations. In February, Germany also agreed to send a 200-strong  
quick reaction force to replace a departing unit from Norway.

Since 2002 the German army has deployed troops in Afghanistan as part  
of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).  
Germany's deployment of around 3,500 soldiers -- the country's largest  
foreign mission -- is responsible for the entire north of Afghanistan.  
But some of Germany's NATO partners, especially the US, have urged  
Germany to shift soldiers from the north to the more dangerous south  
to help fight Taliban insurgents there.

However, the latest troop increase proposal does not foresee such a  
move. Defense Minister Jung told reporters German troops would remain  
focused on the north and only 40 communications specialists would be  
deployed to the south for a German-Danish mission.

Even as it plans to increase ISAF troops, Germany plans to cut the  
upper troop limit of its separate anti-terror mission, which is part  
of Operation Enduring Freedom. Instead of the current limit of 1,400  
the maximum number would be cut to 800. This would not, however,  
affect the number of troops on the ground, Jung said, as they were  
well below the limit.

maw/ap/reuters

URL:

     * http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,561669,00.html