By IRNA,
Berlin : German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg warned public to expect more German casualties in Afghanistan in coming weeks, news reports said here Wednesday.
Talking at a book presentation on the Afghan war in Berlin, the minister said one had to anticipate German military deaths this summer.
He reiterated that his country was involved in a full-fledged war in Afghanistan.
Guttenberg’s remarks on the expected mounting casualty toll comes only a day after his foreign ministerial colleague, Guido Westerwelle said Germans had to brace themselves for further “terrible news” from Afghanistan this summer as a result of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the war-stricken country.
Of the total 134 districts that the German military controls in northern Afghanistan, eight are viewed as especially dangerous, Westerwelle was quoted as saying during his tour of the German military’s foreign deployment control center in the city Potsdam on Tuesday.
“There is some light, but also a great deal of shadow in the Afghan picture. We have to say farewell to the idea that we are going to be able to create European conditions in Afghanistan,” he added.
Some 43 German soldiers have so far died in Afghanistan since late 2001.
Violence in Afghanistan has surged in 2010, the most dangerous year for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since the start of the war in 2001.
Some 350 foreign soldiers have died since January.