A senior US official on Thursday called here for Nato nations to show flexibility with troop deployments in Afghanistan, as Germany looked set to rebuff calls to send troops to the violence-hit south.
"It is important for the Nato commanders, the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) commanders, to have flexibility, for them to be able to use all the different forces in different parts of Afghanistan," Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asia, told journalists. "Everybody is doing an important mission, north, south, east or west... So forces wherever they are, are performing an important mission.
"But within that understanding, Nato's mandate is to cover the whole country and to do that they demand flexibility from the forces, particularly for example when it comes to trainers." Boucher said an increasing number of the missions in Afghanistan involved training Afghan forces as they begin to take over from international forces - a role German forces are involved in.
"When an Afghan unit needs to move to the south, it is important to get trainers to be able to move to the south as well. So we'd encourage as much flexibility as possible," Boucher said.
Germany joined the Nato peacekeeping and reconstruction mission in Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was toppled in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. But Berlin has so far refused to send any of its 3,000 troops to southern Afghanistan where US-led forces are fighting resurgent Taliban extremists. Germany's contingent is stationed in the relatively calm north.
The parliament is expected to vote within the next few weeks to prolong the mandate of its troops in Afghanistan. The government this week approved proposals to shift the focus of the mission towards reconstruction and shoring up the Afghan government.
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