Berlin - Germany will no longer provide special forces for US-led operations to combat terrorism in Afghanistan, a defence ministry spokesman said Monday. Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said Germany had told its allies it did not plan to renew the mandate for up to 100 elite troops to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).
Last week, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the mandate should not be renewed when the OEF mission comes up for debate in parliament on November 4.
He said that for the past several years German KSK special forces had not been involved in OEF, which was set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Instead, Steinmeier said the focus for Berlin was to increase the number of German soldiers serving in Afghanistan withr the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF).
On Tuesday, the German cabinet and the country's parliament are expected to discuss raising German troop levels in Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 soldiers.
The OEF mission has been controversial in Germany because of the number of civilians killed in military operations against Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents.
