http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100 <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=asFaUwttzvX0&refer=germ any> &sid=asFaUwttzvX0&refer=germany Germany Faces U.S. Calls for More Afghan Commitment, Aide Says
By Andreas Cremer Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The German government expects to be pressured by the next U.S. administration to step up its efforts to fight Taliban insurgents and train police officers in Afghanistan, a government adviser said. ``Whatever the color of the next government, it will want us to increase our engagement in Afghanistan,'' Karsten Voigt, the German Foreign Ministry's coordinator for U.S. relations, said in a telephone interview in Berlin today. ``Expectations are crystal clear.'' U.S. calls for more active support from Germany in Afghanistan ``would stand in stark contrast'' to parliament's agreement to extend the deployment of about 3,500 German troops, most of them under North Atlantic Treaty Organization control, Voigt said. NATO has about 41,700 troops in Afghanistan, according to the organization's Web site. German lawmakers voted in October last year to extend the country's involvement with NATO forces in Afghanistan to assist rebuilding efforts. A month later, parliament renewed a mandate for troop participation in U.S.-led anti-terrorism operations, including the fight against Taliban insurgents. While U.S., British, Canadian and Dutch troops do the bulk of the fighting in the south of Afghanistan, German forces are largely confined to the more peaceful north of the country. The government has repeatedly said troops will not be sent to fight in the south, other than to help out allies on an ad-hoc basis. ``The Afghanistan mission has exposed real limitation in the way the alliance is organized, operated and equipped,'' U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is leading calls for NATO allies to increase troop levels, told the House Armed Services Committee in Washington Dec. 11. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
