In a move widely seen as evidence of NATO's new strict approach to its members' non-combat roles in crisis zones, Germany has been asked to provide 250 combat troops for a Quick Reaction Force in northern Afghanistan to replace a 350-strong Norwegian force that leaves in July, a German Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday, Jan. 29.The official request from NATO will prompt heightened concern from within Germany that its current non-combat role in Afghanistan is changing and that German troops will soon be required to fight Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents in the war-torn country as part of the alliance's International Security and Assistance Force.
Despite the assurances of Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung who said during a surprise visit to Kabul Tuesday that a final decision had yet to be taken, government ministers and generals have indicated over recent days that the force is all but certain to be deployed, insisting that it is covered by the current mandate for the Afghan deployment, renewed by parliament in October.