Germany urges NATO strategy shift in Afghanistan

BERLIN, Sep 28 (Reuters) NATO's strategy in Afghanistan has to change to focus on security and reconstruction, Germany's defence minister said today, hours before parliament is expected to extend the German mission there.

Germany has close to 3,000 troops in northern Afghanistan.

Lawmakers are widely expected to renew the army's mandate for peacekeeping activities in the country for another year despite escalating violence, mainly in the south where the focus has been on fighting the resurgent Taliban.

''The concept has got to be security and reconstruction,'' Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told ZDF television today.

''People must see that we are not occupying forces but rather that we are there to help them.'' Jung said German troops in the north of the country were involved in several reconstruction projects and that for NATO's mission in Afghanistan as a whole to be a success, this should be copied in other parts of the country.

''NATO's strategy has got to change in this direction,'' he said, noting that Italy, Britain and also the United States, each of which are involved in operations in other areas of the country, shared his views.

Afghanistan is experiencing the most serious violence since the Taliban Islamists were ousted in 2001 and has acknowledged that it underestimated the strength of Taliban resistance.

Some 140 foreign troops, most of the American, British and Canadian have been killed since January.

A meeting in Slovenia today is expected to extend the NATO peacekeeping mission to the east of the country -- the only area not covered by the alliance at present. This will bring 10,000 US troops stationed there under NATO command and is expected to grant the alliance more flexibility in the south.

Jung rejected comments attributed by the Bild newspaper to the German ambassador in Afghanistan, Hans-Ulrich Seidt, that the military battle in the south could not be won by NATO and that the Afghan government risked losing control of the country in the next 12 to 18 months.

Just over 20,000 troops from 37 countries are operating in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Overstretched by other missions, Germany has ruled out sending troops to southern Afghanistan.

REUTERS SP PM1642