Germany commits air force to Afghanistan, defends Libya vote

Mar 23, 2011, 16:17 GMT

Berlin - The German government agreed Wednesday to commit its air force to the NATO mission in Afghanistan, a move it says will free up allied NATO troops to participate in military action against the Libyan regime of leader Moamer Gaddafi.

Up to 300 air force personnel are to serve on NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, which monitor Afghan airspace, Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet decided.

The decision, due to be authorized by parliament on Friday, is aimed at indirectly supporting the implementation of a no-fly zone over Libya, by freeing up allied forces in Afghanistan, officials said.

'The AWACS-deployment is an expression of our solidarity with the alliance,' Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told parliament.

Germany abstained last week in a UN Security Council vote on military action in Libya, and said it would not commit troops to such a mission.

However Merkel rejected accusations that Germany was isolating itself from its allies.

Germany, 'along with everybody else in the world, wants the end of a war that Gaddafi is leading against his own people,' Merkel said, adding that the abstention, 'does not make us neutral.'

Wednesday's decision means Germany's deployment in Afghanistan is set to rise to 5,300 troops, the highest number since the start of NATO operations in 2001. The defence ministry expected between 70 and 100 air force personnel to take part in the AWACS mission.

Germany still intends to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan at the end of this year.

On Tuesday, Germany pulled out of NATO operations in the Mediterranean, where the alliance is already involved in the Libya conflict by implementing an arms embargo.

The defence ministry said four ships with a total of 550 crew members had been placed back under German command, while 60 to 70 German troops participating in AWACS operations in the Mediterranean were also being withdrawn.

Regardless of events in Libya, Germany was due to decide next month whether to commit troops to the AWACS surveillance operations in Afghanistan, a decision which the government is now linking to NATO's military role in Libya.

'This is a factual relief for NATO and is a political signal of our loyalty to the alliance, against the background of events in Libya,' Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told public radio Deutschlandfunk.

Speaking later in parliament, de Maiziere said NATO's involvement in Libya meant the alliance depended on German participation in the Afghan surveillance flights.

After much deliberation, NATO decided Tuesday to commit ships in the Mediterranean to enforce a UN-mandated arms embargo on Libya. NATO remained divided over whether to take the lead in commanding the no-fly zone over the country.

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