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German opposition wants decision now on more troops for Afghanistan
Dec 6, 2009, 7:40 GMT
Berlin - The opposition Social Democrats (SPD) has called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make a quick decision on whether Germany will send extra troops to Afghanistan, a party spokesman said Sunday.
In the wake of US President Barack Obama's announcement last week that the US will send some 30,000 extra soldiers, European NATO allies are being asked to come up with at least 7,000 more.
Britain has said it will send 500 soldiers, but France and Germany have so far made no commitment.
The chancellor has repeatedly said no decision on the German troop level will be made until after an international conference on the conflict planned for January 28 in London.
'Merkel cannot sit the decision out until then,' said SPD foreign policy spokesman Rolf Muetzenich.
The public and parliament had a right to be informed before the conference, Muetzenich said.
The Afghanistan conflict is only weakly supported in the German population, with a slim majority opposing involvement there. In November a scandal over whether or not the government knew of civilian casualties in a German-ordered airstrike saw the resignation of a former minister of defence and the armed forces' top general.
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