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The Week in Germany: Politics September 23, 2005 Deployments in Afghanistan, Sudan to be extended Germany's outgoing Cabinet decided this week to extend by one year the deployment of troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
The Cabinet agreed to boost troop levels by up to 750 soldiers to a total force of up to 3,000 soldiers, the German Defense Ministry said in a statement. With approximately 2,250 troops on the ground now, Germany is currently the leading contributor to the ISAF force working to secure peace and stability in Afghanistan, according to the ministry. It has been a leading backer of international efforts to help Afghanistan back onto its feet since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the brutal Taliban regime in 2001. The majority of Germany's peacekeeping contingent is based in the capital Kabul, but several hundred soldiers serve in two German-led, civilian-military provincial reconstruction teams working to bolster both security and aid work in the northern towns of Kunduz and Faizabad. In a separate decision, the Cabinet spoke out in favor of extending the mandate of German troops serving as part of a UN mission in southern Sudan, the Defense Ministry said. There, a smaller contingent of German troops is helping to monitor a peace deal meant to end a bloody 21-year-old civil war that has claimed two million lives and forced as many as four million people from their homes. Lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament are expected to approve the renewed mandates by large, cross-party majorities when they meet on September 28. Links:
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