By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Germany's Parliament granted final approval Thursday to an extension of the country's military mission in Afghanistan for 14 more months, and allowed the immediate deployment of an additional 1,000 troops.
The new mandate, which passed with a vote of 442 out of 570 lawmakers in favor, will keep the German military in Afghanistan until after next year's parliamentary elections.
It also raises the ceiling for the number of German troops serving with the NATO-led international force to 4,500.
Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said in an interview with ARD state broadcaster after the vote in the Bundestag that the approval meant "1,000 soldiers will go to Afghanistan immediately."
Some 3,320 German troops are serving as part of the NATO's International Security Assistance Force mission, most in Afghanistan's relatively calm north. About 40 countries contribute 47,600 troops to the mission, led by the US with around 18,000 troops and Britain with more than 8,000. Germany is the No. 3 contributor, but has been criticized for not deploying its troops to Afghanistan's more dangerous southern reaches.
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