German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would resist any pressure to send more troops to Afghanistan during talks Thursday with US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Germany might be feverishly awaiting Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin on Thursday, but the US presidential candidate will have a tough time keeping the country’s affections if he’s elected this November, writes The Local’s <b>Marc Young</b>.
Germany has condemned a wave of suicide bombings in Afghanistan which killed more than 40 people in Kabul on Monday and injured three German officials in the north of the country on Sunday.
The US wants the quick reaction forces (QRF) from the German Bundeswehr to begin operations on the unstable eastern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, a CIA source in Washington said on Tuesday.
A German NATO general has said the transatlantic alliance needs up to 6,000 more soldiers to stabilize strife-wracked Afghanistan, in an interview broadcast over the weekend.
German Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung said on Thursday the Bundeswehr must increase the number of troops it has in Afghanistan so Germany can lead a NATO rapid reaction force starting July 1.
Due to the increased threat of attacks in Kabul, all German diplomats based in the Afghan capital have been told they must relocate within embassy grounds from this summer on.
Afghan security forces stopped a vehicle stuffed with explosives last week before it could be detonated in an attack on German soldiers in northern Afghanistan, German officials said on Wednesday.
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung has approved a short-term deployment of 45 German soldiers from their base in northern Afghanistan to the west of the country, a ministry spokesman said on Friday.
Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency on Wednesday broke ground on the future site of its new headquarters in Berlin in a move intended to improve coordination with the country’s political leadership.
Christian Social Union (CSU) fears of suffering in the September Bavarian state election will allegedly lead to reinforcements for German troops in Afghanistan being delayed until October.
One of the German Islamists suspected of plotting suicide attacks on soldiers in Afghanistan has called for ‘holy war’ in an online video, according to the German daily <i>Bild</i> on Tuesday.
Kabul believes Germany’s foreign intelligence service may have spied on several Afghan ministers, a newspaper said on Saturday, after news broke that the agency illicitly monitored the economy minister’s emails.
The intelligence committee of the German parliament issued a sharp reprimand on Thursday to Germany's BND intelligence service for spying on German journalists reporting on Afghanistan, but stopped short of demanding that its director resign.
The scope of a scandal involving Germany’s BND intelligence service spying on German journalists reporting on Afghanistan is now believed to be much wider than initially thought.
The head of the German Armed Forces Association said on Tuesday Germany was right not to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan because the battle against the Taliban in the region could not be won.
A German of Afghan origin has been held at a US military base near Kabul after allegedly entering the facility without proper authorization, according to a German Foreign Ministry spokesman.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called on NATO to develop a stronger civilian component in order to better carry out the transatlantic alliance’s military mission.
<b>The contentious eastward expansion of NATO isn’t the only issue clouding the transatlantic alliance’s summit in Romania this week. The Local’s Marc Young explores German reluctance to join the fighting in southern Afghanistan and the implications for Berlin’s foreign policy.</b>
