Germany Mulls Extending Afghan Mission

The German cabinet agreed on Wednesday to ask parliament to extend the German army's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan by a further 12 months despite criticism that it is ineffective. The recently established German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), operating in Faizabad in northern Afghanistan, has attracted controversy over its failure to rescue foreign aid workers who came under attack from an angry mob earlier this month. The mainly Swiss aid workers eventually had to be rescued by unarmed staff from the United Nations and a private security firm. The main German opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is calling for the 110-soldier force in Faizabad to be reinforced. Germany also runs a PRT in nearby Kunduz staffed by 270 peacekeeping troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul and some 30 civilians. Germany has 2,000 soldiers in ISAF, its largest military force abroad. The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to renew the mandate of the multinational security force in Afghanistan for another year until October 2005. (AFP)