Berlin - Germany will send a combat until to help NATO forces in northern Afghanistan, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said Wednesday. He said the quick reaction force would be deployed in the summer.
"NATO has made the request. We have decided after consultation with the military that we cannot allow a gap to develop," Jung told a news conference.
The troops will replace a 250-strong Norwegian contingent that is being withdrawn after two years in Afghanistan.
It will be the first combat unit sent to Afghanistan by Germany, which already has around 3,200 soldiers serving with with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Most of the German troops in Afghanistan are involved in reconstruction work in the relatively peaceful north and around the capital, Kabul.
Jung last week turned down a US request to deploy combat troops in the hostile south, where the bulk of fighting against the Taliban and al-Qaeda is taking place.
