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| 2003/08/02 |
Germany warned against deployment
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03:30:29 �.�
Hamburg, Aug 2 - German military commanders have warned Berlin against expanding this country's peacekeeping deployment in Afghanistan, according to a published report.
The report in Der Spiegel news magazine, due to hit newsstands Monday, quotes top-ranking commanders in the field as saying it would be fool hardy to expand an operation which is already stretched to the limits.
Three-star general Friedrich Riechmann was quoted as saying, "Lingering remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, along with organise crime, drug barons and a number of warlords pose a daily and ongoing threat."
He made the remarks in a confidential report to Berlin, according to Der Spiegel.
The report contained his analysis of the situation based on a fact-finding mission in June.
Germany currently has 2,400 peacekeepers deployed in Afghanistan, primarily in Kabul. But that total is being reduced by one-third in coming weeks following the hand-over of ISAF peacekeeping command to Canadian forces last month.
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