By Paul Ames
The Associated Press, 10 February 2008
MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Germany rejected U.S. criticism of its role in Afghanistan on Saturday, insisting its troops were playing a key role in promoting stability and reconstruction in the country's north.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized Germany and other key European allies this week who have refused to allow their troops in Afghanistan to be deployed to the southern heartland of Taliban insurgency alongside U.S., British, Canadian, Dutch and other contingents.
"Germany has nothing to be ashamed of," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Gates and other delegates at an international security conference Saturday.
Steinmeier said the 3,500 German troops were playing a key role in the relatively stable northern region and warned that weakening their presence there would risk undermining security in that region.
"Our resources are limited and I don't see the sense in undermining this good work in the north by spreading the Bundeswehr forces thinner," Steinmeier said.
All of NATO's 26 allies have troops in the 43,000-strong alliance force in Afghanistan, but many refuse to allow their units to be used in the dangerous southern regions, opening a rift within the alliance.
The U.S. and Canada stepped up pressure on European allies this week to find more front line troops for southern Afghanistan. At a meeting Thursday in Vilnius, Lithuania, Canada told NATO defense ministers it will pull out its 2,500 troops from a key role in volatile Kandahar province next year unless they are reinforced by 1,000 allied troops.
With Germany, Spain and Italy refusing to send troops to the southern battlefields in the face of widespread public and parliamentary opposition, attention has focused on France, which has said it will come to Canada's aid while stressing no decisions have been taken on the extent of its assistance.
Speaking at the Munich meeting, French Defense Minister Herve Morin did not go into details, but he stressed the possibility of increased military deployments. "A supplementary effort should perhaps be made in the short term," he said.
NATO officials said they were hopeful French President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a French deployment to the south at a NATO summit in April.
"If they decide to make that kind of contribution, first of all it would be a most welcome contribution," Gates told reporters in Munich late Friday. "I think it would send a very good signal about their participation in this NATO mission and about the future."
Associated Press writers David Rising and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Citation: Paul Ames. "Germany Touts Its Role in Afghanistan," The Associated Press, 10 February 2008.
Original URL: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJYHFKJvxq59JkMp92bDlP_mWwAgD8UN5CS80