France and Germany plan to jointly carry out training of Afghan soldiers and civil servants, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here on Monday.
"We want to work with our German friends to help in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, to help train civil servants and to bring a little peace and security to a country which really needs it," Sarkozy said after talks with Merkel at a castle near Berlin.
Merkel said: "We want to make a joint commitment to the fight against terrorism and to rebuild Afghanistan."
There are some 50 French military instructors currently training the Afghan army and the figure is expected to reach 200 by the end of the year. Of the 3,000 German soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, 186 are focusing on training Afghan soldiers, according to figures cited in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily last month. Germany is also leading a European mission training Afghan police officers. |