WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday said Germany will not allow its 2,700 troops in Afghanistan to be deployed elsewhere in the country.
U.S. diplomatic and military officials are pressing NATO allies and 11 other countries who contribute more than 34,000 troops to the Afghan International Security and Assistance Force to lift some 50 individual national caveats on their use.
Germany is the main offender: It limits its troops only to support the German provincial reconstruction team in the north. Meanwhile, NATO allies Canada and the Netherlands have been engaged in pitched fighting in southern Afghanistan against a resurgent Taliban, with British and American troops coming to their aid as reinforcements.
Merkel addressed the German parliament this week, saying that moving German troops out of the north would put stability there at risk. Some 40 percent of the Afghan population live in the German-secured area.
"For this reason there will not be a redeployment of German forces to other parts of the country, going beyond the current mandate. What is important in Merkel's view is winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the people in Afghanistan," the German government said in a news release issued Wednesday.
The German parliament voted at the end of September to extend the mandate for German troops in Afghanistan. During that debate the parliament reaffirmed that the deployment would continue to be limited to Kabul and the northern section of the country.
The parliament also included an option of sending German troops to other parts of the country for temporary missions in isolated instances, but those missions must be approved by Berlin in advance.
U.S. Marine Gen. James Jones, the outgoing military commander of NATO forces, told reporters Wednesday the requirement to go back to host nations for approval of individual missions loses military commanders critical hours or days in responding to a crisis -- time that can mean an increase of allied casualties while governments are solicited for reinforcements.
