Germany on Tuesday disputed an announcement by the Pentagon that it was seeking to buy MQ-9 Reapers, the new armed drones that the United States recently began flying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
German troops in Afghanistan were attacked in two separate incidents earlier this week, newsmagazine <i>Der Spiegel</i> reported on Wednesday. One unit came under gunfire and another was targeted by explosives, but there were no injuries.
A day after Barack Obama’s wildly successful public appearance in Berlin, German politicians and media lauded the US presidential candidate’s speech on the challenges facing Europe and America.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier landed in Afghanistan on Friday for a surprise four-day trip to visit troops and inspect reconstruction efforts.
Over 200,000 jubilant Barack Obama supporters shut down the centre of Berlin on Thursday evening to listen to the US presidential candidate give an impassioned speech on the global challenges of the 21st century.
US presidential candidate Barack Obama tried played down the massively hyped expectations for his speech in Berlin on Thursday, saying he was not trying to make a historic address like JFK and Ronald Reagan.
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.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday welcomed the arrest of wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as historic and a vindication for the victims of the Balkan wars.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said during a visit to Kiev that Ukraine should become an "associate member" of the European Union, warning that full membership was not on the agenda.
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.
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 highest court ruled Wednesday that the decision to deploy German crews on NATO surveillance flights over Turkey during the Iraq war was illegal.
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.
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>
The West should avoid antagonizing Russia further, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday as ministers gathered in Romania to debate the eastward expansion of NATO.
