Chancellor Angela Merkel visited German troops stationed in northern Afghanistan on Monday, days after a NATO summit recommitted the alliance to helping the country fight a Taliban-led insurgency.
Merkel was accompanied by German Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in northern Afghanistan told AFP.
“She will be with German troops in different places,” the spokesman said.
The official could not give details of her movements for security reasons but said she was not expected to travel to Kabul.
German soldiers are in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and adjoining Kunduz, and Merkel visited both areas.
In the Kunduz region, she praised reconstruction efforts by the military and German non-government groups. “There”s hope,” she said.
Merkel also paid a visit to a memorial that commemorates eight German soldiers who have died in the region.
Northern Afghanistan sees less of the violence plaguing the south and east, but there have been several attacks on troops.
In an new assault linked to the insurgency, an Afghan policeman and soldier were killed when a bomb blew up their vehicle in the eastern province of Khost on Monday, officials said.
Merkel”s visit, her second to Afghanistan since November 2007, follows two attacks on German forces near Kunduz on Sunday. No one was hurt, the army said. The insurgent Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the strikes.
