Germany will hold off on any decision about adding troops to Afghanistan at least until the US makes a move, the country’s defense chief said.
“We are, eagerly probably as you all are, waiting for the president’s [US President Barack Obama] speech and ... waiting for the new concept, the new strategic ideas from our American friends,” German Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said after meetings at the Pentagon on Thursday.
A day earlier, Germany said it would continue its military mission in Afghanistan next year despite the war’s unpopularity at home and doubts about the credibility of the Afghan government.
Guttenberg told reporters he has assured US Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Germany’s commitment is firm. He also said Germany would make its own choices.
After a speech later at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Guttenberg said that the US pressure on Germany to increase troop levels and to remove restrictions on its troops had eased as German troops deployed in the North of Afghanistan have taken on greater risk and casualties.
“I think that is because we have made clear that the German soldiers are not any longer in the North only to dig holes for water and wave to Afghan children,” he said. “It’s more and more that we are in combat situations.”
Obama is expected to announce soon whether the US will add troops next year, above the record 68,000 US forces now in Afghanistan.
For his part, Gates says the US “can use all the help we can get” from European nations and others in Afghanistan. However, he says asking for anything specific is premature until Obama announces his plans.
More than 4,000 German troops are serving in Afghanistan under a mandate that limits their number to no more than 4,500. The government said on Wednesday that limit would remain unchanged and the troops would be predominantly stationed in northern Afghanistan.
The decision requires parliamentary approval, which is expected before the current mandate expires on Dec. 13. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition enjoys a comfortable majority in parliament.
The mission to Afghanistan has become increasingly unpopular with Germans. More than 30 soldiers have been killed as Taliban militants have become more entrenched in the north of the country where German soldiers serve in the NATO-led force.
The German government has not come under significant pressure to pull out. All the main political parties, including most of the opposition, support keeping German troops in the country.
Meanwhile, NATO postponed a meeting at which the allies were to have pledged reinforcements for its 71,000-strong force in Afghanistan to take into account the latest developments in that country and the outcome of Obama’s strategic review of the war. The US military has another 36,000 soldiers in Afghanistan who serve outside NATO, under independent command.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in