Hamburg - Germany can expect a NATO-request to send 1,200 police instructors to Afghanistan, according to a media report published Saturday. The request is due to reach the German government in coming weeks, German Spiegel news magazine learned from NATO sources.
An Interior Ministry spokesman told German Press Agency dpa, "such a demand from NATO is not known to us."
The magazine reported that the request was part of a NATO training programme that aims to send a total of 10,000 instructors to work with Afghan security forces.
Security experts in Berlin said it could be difficult to send so many police officers to Afghanistan. "That goes beyond conceivable limits," one official said.
Unlike soldiers, German police officers can only choose voluntarily to accept such a placement.
At present, Germany has just 110 police officers stationed in the region.
