German government sends more troops to Mali and northern Iraq
The German government has responded to the terrorist attacks in Paris and the escalating conflicts in the Middle East with a massive military build-up at home and abroad.
After a meeting of the Defence Committee of the German Bundestag on Tuesday, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) announced the extension of German military missions in the Middle East and Africa.
The discussions had “been dominated by the attacks in Paris,” von der Leyen declared. Her official statement read: “It was very clear that there was a strong wish and conviction that we should stand alongside France and must do everything possible to help them in the difficult situation.”
The defence minister then spelled out what she meant by “help.” The German government will extend its support for the Kurdish Peshmerga and send more soldiers to train them in the war zone in northern Iraq, “We will ask parliament in January to extend the mandate and propose upping the threshold of soldiers to 150” from the previous 100, she said. The German aid was “decisive” in enabling “the Peshmerga to continue to undertake its opposition to the so-called Islamic State and register significant defeats.”
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/27/germ-n27.html
