Germany balances voter, NATO demands on Afghanistan
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trapped between demands from NATO partners to send more troops to Afghanistan and strong domestic opposition to such a move.
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Government officials urged parliament Thursday to keep Germany's 3,000 troops and six reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan for another year, saying a pullout now would endanger progress made since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.
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Germany believes its troops should remain in Afghanistan until the country can take care of its own security needs, according to an internal government document obtained by AFP.
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The German Parliament on Thursday overwhelming approved a one-year extension of the Bundeswehr&#39;s Afghanistan mandate. The decision comes a day after a grenade attack on a German camp in Kunduz injured five.
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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates urges Germany to send more troops to southern Afghanistan.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday NATO would find a joint position on troubled Afghanistan at next week's summit to make sure its difficult mission there will be a success.Comment
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The German cabinet has voted to send Tornado jets to Afghanistan ahead of a NATO meeting at which the United States will press its allies to commit more troops to battle the Taliban.
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KABUL - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder predicted that Afganistan&#39;s President Hamid Karzai would be declared the winner in the country&#39;s first direct presidential election held just two days ago during a visit to Kabul Monday.
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BRUSSELS - Under intense pressure from Taliban insurgents based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and short of the troops needed for victory, NATO again is pleading with member states to step up their commitments, casting the fight in Afghanistan as vital for global security.
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NATO pressed its allies at a summit Tuesday to deploy more troops to Afghanistan's volatile south, but Germany resisted any permanently expanded presence and Canada complained of bearing the brunt of an ...Comment
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Germany's defense minister rejected a U.S proposal to have NATO take over the U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan, saying Wednesday that his country wants to focus on stabilization.
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Germany&#39;s Green party, which when in power helped launch their country&#39;s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, on Saturday failed to agree a common line on the deployment of troops there.
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BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday NATO would find a joint position on troubled Afghanistan at next week's summit to make sure its difficult mission there will be a success.Comment
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BRUSSELS -- Nearly 2,000 NATO troops, including two &quot;rapid response&quot; battalions from Spain and Italy, began arriving in Afghanistan this week to strengthen the international military presence there in time for the Oct. 9 presidential election, NATO officials said.
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BERLIN, Feb. 1 -- Germany on Friday rejected a formal request from the United States to send forces to war zones in southern Afghanistan, the latest setback to the NATO alliance as it tries to scrape together enough troops to battle resurgent Taliban forces and stabilize the country.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai left for Germany Sunday to receive an award, his office said, just six days before his war-plagued nation will hold its first-ever direct presidential election.
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ISN SECURITY WATCH (14/10/04) - Germany and France have rejected calls for merging the NATO-led International Stability Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan with other Western forces serving under the auspices of âOperation Enduring Freedomâ, the