Germany to send 850 extra troops to Afghanistan
18:55, 26 January 2010
BERLIN. January 26. KAZINFORM Germany decided to send 850 extra soldiers to Afghanistan, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Tuesday, two days before a key NATO-led conference on Afghanistan to be held in London; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
Merkel said in Berlin that 500 of those troops would be sent to join the 4,500-strong German troops, mostly of whom have already deployed in the northern Afghanistan, as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Another 350 troops would be kept as a "flexible reserve," which could be used to strengthen public security in events such as the parliamentary election scheduled in September; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
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