Germany will start drawing down its forces in Afghanistan at the end of next year, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told parliament Thursday in Berlin.
Westerwelle said Germany was defending its own security by deploying troops in Afghanistan, DPA reported.
"That is why this deployment is the right thing to do. But it must not go on without end, and that is the right thing too," he said.
The statement was based on a 108-page progress report issued early this week in which Berlin assessed what had been achieved in the nine years since it first sent soldiers to Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban returning.
The government is seeking a fresh authorization from parliament in January for the deployment, which has a limit of about 5,000 personnel. The commitment to start reducing the overall number in late 2011 is aimed at winning over public scepticism in Germany about the mission.
...