- Title: GERMANY: FIRST GERMAN TROOPS FLY OFF FOR DEPLOYMENT IN AFGHANISTAN
- Date: 24th October 2003
- Summary: (EU) COLOGNE, GERMANY (OCTOBER 24, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF LUFTWAFFE JET ON RUNWAY 0.05 2. CLOSE OF PILOT IN COCKPIT 0.09 3. SMV SOLDIERS ON STEPS OF AIRCRAFT 0.14 4. WIDE OF BUS PULLING UP TO PLANE 0.22 5. SMV SOLDIERS IN BUS 0.28 6. VARIOUS SOLDIERS BOARDING AIRPLANE (3 SHOTS) 0.43 7. SLV HELICOPTER TAXIING ON RUNWAY 0.50 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (German) KURT HELMUT SCHIEBOLD, SPOKESMAN FOR THE UNIT GOING TO KUNDUZ, SAYING: "Today the first 23 men of the unit going to Kunduz after the Bundestag decision are leaving from Cologne-Bonn. Their orders in Kunduz are to support the central government to help secure the area, to help build up the Afghan, United Nations and civilian organisations and for humanitarian aid." 1.26 9. CLOSE OF "LUFTWAFFE" ("AIR FORCE") ON AIRPLANE 1.30 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (German) SCHIEBOLD, SAYING: "The security situation is quiet but not stable, but we are optimistic." 1.39 11. VARIOUS OF PULLOUT FROM DOOR OF PLANE ALONG PLANE 1.54 12. SLV WORKER STANDING BY AIRCRAFT WHEEL PREPARING PLANE 1.59 13. WIDE OF TRANSPORT PLANE TAXIING 2.09 14. SLV PLANE TAXIING BY AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER 2.25 15. VARIOUS OF PLANE TAKING OFF 2.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th November 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COLOGNE,GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA9XW64TQN27VSST3JVJDJDNO1X
- Story Text: A first contingent of 23 German soldiers has boarded
a plane to Afghanistan barely an hour after the German
Parliament approved their deployment to Kunduz.
Germany launched the deployment of troops to
northern Afghanistan on Friday (October 24) after the
Bundestag parliament overwhelmingly backed German
involvement in the expansion of the NATO-led peacekeeping
force outside Kabul.
The Bundestag lower house voted by 531 to 57 to send up
to 450 German soldiers to the relatively peaceful province
Kunduz to oversee reconstruction, help disarm former Afghan
fighters and to support preparations for elections due in
summer 2004.
Altogether about 230 soldiers will be stationed in
Kunduz for the next few months.
"Their orders in Kunduz are to support the central
government to help secure the area, to help build up the
Afghan, United Nations and civilian organisations and for
humanitarian aid," said Kurt Helmut Schiebold, a
spokesperson for the unit.
"The security situation is quiet but not stable, but we
are optimistic," he added.
The United Nations Security Council earlier this month
authorised the 5,500-strong International Security
Assistance Force, or ISAF, to send troops into lawless
provinces outside the Afghan capital Kabul, where they have
been confined to date.
The expansion had long been sought by Afghan President
Hamid Karzai and the United Nations. However, few countries
have been willing to commit troops at this time.
Germany has been keen to ensure its troops are
recognised as part of the ISAF mission and not the U.S.
force of some 12,500 soldiers that is trying to track down
al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the south of Afghanistan.
Germany already has 1,800 soldiers serving with ISAF in
Afghanistan and Friday's vote also extended their mandate.
Germany handed over command of ISAF to NATO in August. All
deployments of German troops abroad require Bundestag
approval.
cr/jrc
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