German army union chief calls for more troops for Afghanistan

Berlin. Germany must send more troops to the Kunduz region in Afghanistan to make civilian reconstruction successful, the German army union chief said on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
"It is difficult to conduct civilian reconstruction in Kunduz. We need more infantry there," said Colonel Ulrich Kirsch, head of the German army union.
At present, Germany has deployed about 4,400 soldiers in the northern part of Afghanistan, the third largest foreign troops in the country after the United States and Britain.
Germany has faced pressure from its allies in Afghanistan to increase troops there, as attacks from Taliban and other militants have been rising. The United States decided in December 2009 to send an extra 30,000 soldiers there within half a year.
However, the Afghan mission is unpopular in Germany, especially after an airstrike that killed about 142 civilians in Kunduz in September 2009.
The German government also wants to have its own new strategy on Afghanistan, instead of simply sending more troops there. It has set up a special cabinet committee to do it.
"Military means alone can not make a stable future for Afghanistan. We will focus our concentration on civilian reconstruction efforts so that Afghanistan can begin to establish its security forces and determine its own future," German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said early this month.
A key international conference on Afghanistan will be held in London on Jan. 28, at which Germany will make public its new strategy on Afghanistan.
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