By IRNA,
Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday outlined her new much-anticipated strategic concept for Afghanistan which includes sending up to 850 additional soldiers and doubling development aid.
Talking to media at the chancellery, Merkel said that around 500 of those troops are to be dispatched directly to join the 4,500-strong German military force contingent, deployed mostly in northern Afghanistan and Kabul as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The German leader added that some 350 soldiers would be maintained as a “flexible reserve”, to be used to provide extra security in political events like the parliamentary election slated for fall.
Germany had faced tremendous pressure by its NATO allies, among them the US and Britain, to sent more troops to Afghanistan to battle the fierce Taliban and al-Qaeda
insurgency.
Merkel announced also plans to increase the number army and police instructors in the war-stricken country.
Meanwhile, Berlin is to double its development and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan.
Germany would now allocate around 430 million euros until 2013 to improve
infrastructure, education and job opportunities.
“Without reconstruction, we cannot have security,” Merkel stressed.
Furthermore, the German government is to earmark 10 million euros every year for
a Taliban-reintegration program, believed to be part of a one-billion-dollar program
that will be approved at a key NATO conference on Afghanistan, due to held in London on Thursday.
Senior Afghan officials have reportedly presented a plan to reconcile with up to
35,000 Taliban insurgents by offering money, jobs and vocational training, in the hope that the scheme will gain traction ahead of the UN meeting on Afghanistan in London.
Previous attempts by the Afghan government to negotiate with the Taliban, in a bid
to entice more moderate elements to drop their guns, encountered major difficulties
because they offered little protection or financial incentives.
Critics of the present initiative, too, question whether Taliban fighters will want to
switch sides when they believe they are on the verge of a victory.
However, proponents believe the jobs, vocational training, and other incentives that would be offered will make the latest plan more enticing.