Merkel: Germany will "concentrate" Afghan military effort

Jan 23, 2010, 10:40 GMT

Berlin - Germany will concentrate its military efforts in northern Afghanistan while accelerating the training of Afghan security forces, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a video podcast Saturday.

The comments come as speculation rages in Germany about whether more soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan, and less than a week before a key NATO-led strategy conference on the conflict takes place in London.

On Friday sources in the defence ministry in Berlin told the German Press Agency dpa that Germany could increase its military presence in Afghanistan to 6,000, from its current level of 4,500. An official spokesman later denied the report.

'So that rebuilding can take place, and so that the training of security forces can occur, it is necessary that the (Afghan) population is protected from the Taliban,' the chancellor said.

Merkel has consistently rejected calls to make a military commitment in advance of the London conference, due for January 28.

In her podcast Merkel tied the increase of civil reconstruction help to the gradual transferral of security duties to Afghan forces.

'The people will feel, if step-by-step responsibility is taken over, that there is a better civilian reconstruction (effort),' she said.

The opposition Social Democrats Friday called for a definite withdrawal date of 2015 to be put on Germany's mission in Afghanistan, a call that was rejected immediately by the government.

Merkel said that 'formidable training efforts' were needed for the Afghan forces, and that Germany would pursue this in 'a faster and more concentrated form than has been the case until now.'

'Without peace there is no reconstruction, but without reconstruction there will be no peace either,' the chancellor said.