German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday that Germany's rejection of a NATO request to send extra troops to southern Afghanistan is well justified.
Germany's decision is "nothing to be ashamed of," Steinmeier told a group of high-profile diplomats at a key security conference in the southern German city of Munich.
Steinmeier said an increasing number of Germans have become skeptical about the military missions abroad, especially in Afghanistan where the casualties of German soldiers have been mounting.
Considering the limited German military resources, Germany is not able to send extra troops to the more volatile southern Afghanistan, Steinmeier said.
Still, Germany will live up to its commitment to NATO in Afghanistan, he added.
Some 3,000 German troops, the third biggest contributor after the United States and Britain, are currently deployed in the relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan under the 43,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Germany has recently decided to send a combat unit, as requested by NATO, to the northern Afghanistan to replace a 350-strong Norwegian force as a quick reaction force.
NATO has reportedly been struggling to plug holes in the military missions in Afghanistan where security concerns have intensified recently.
Canada has threatened to pull out its soldiers unless European allies such as France and Germany send additional troops to the southern Afghanistan.
The annual three-day security meeting, which kicked off on Friday, is scheduled to discuss a range of the world's most thorny issues. It was attended by high-profile diplomats including NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Source: Xinhua
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