US asks Germany to do more in Afghanitsan.
Several German newspapers are said to be reporting that America has requested Germany to make troops available for combat operations in southern Afghanistan. The Frankfurter Allgemeine, Zeitung newspaper quoted a high-ranking US defense official as saying that German troops based in the relatively peaceful north must be able to move to the south at short notice. The unnamed official said allied commanders should be able to call the Germans in the morning, asking for a battalion, and it should be there by the evening...
As was to be expected, no change in Germany's attitude, but I suppose the US had to go through the motions. NATO remains as fatally flawed as ever.
...The US State Department meanwhile has confirmed President George W. Bush has raised the issue with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said there will not be any change to Germany's Afghanistan mandate.
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