BERLIN: The top US commander in Afghanistan has reiterated a call for Germany and other Nato countries to contribute more soldiers to the battle against Taliban insurgents.
“We need troops that can be easily mobilised and we need helicopters,” General Dan McNeil told today’s edition of Die Welt according to an advance extract of the newspaper.
He added that Germany, whose 3,000 troops in Afghanistan are confined to the relatively calm north of the country, could “be useful all over.”
Germany has long faced pressure to contribute more troops to the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and to amend their mandate to allow deployment in the south where the Taliban insurgency is at its worst.
Britain earlier this month urged its Nato allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan to prevent a “potential nightmare” scenario.
According to a report tabled in the British parliament, ISAF is two battalions short of the requirement set by Nato commanders. The force counts about 39,000 soldiers from 37 nations in Afghanistan.
McNeil said: “I would happily take four brigades.”
Berlin has been given an ultimatum by the Taliban to withdraw its troops from the war-battered country. The movement is holding a German national hostage along with 22 South Korean Christian aid workers whom they have threatened to kill, but the German government has vowed that it will not be blackmailed.
In an interview published yesterday, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany would let the Afghan population down if it withdrew its troops.
“The engagement of the Bundeswehr is aimed at helping the population on all fronts,” Steinmeier told the Saechsischen Zeitung newspaper. “We have built schools, the infant mortality rate has dropped, the market are open again, but above all, we are committed to helping the people of Afghanistan, who rely on us.”
The German cabinet is due to discuss extending the military’s mandate in Afghanistan in September. - AFP |
