Word: nato
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...That question is especially urgent in Afghanistan. Germany is the third biggest troop contributor to the NATO-led international peacekeeping force there, with 3,700 German troops serving in Kabul and in northern Afghanistan, around Mazar-e-Sharif, where Germany heads the northern regional command. More German soldiers are now being sent to Afghanistan in the run-up to the elections in August, bringing the total number to 4,200 by late summer. There are also plans to send 300 more German troops to the country to help support NATO's deployment of surveillance aircraft...
...Even so, at least 35 German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since early 2002, most recently on Tuesday, when three died near the northern town of Kunduz after their patrol came under fire. The mission is very unpopular back home, but Germany has been feeling pressure from its NATO allies to pull more of its weight and send troops to the south, the scene of fierce battles with Taliban insurgents...
...legacy of Germany's Nazi past has led to military limits being written into the country's constitution. Germany was demilitarized after World War II ended in 1945, and the process of remilitarization has only developed over time. The Bundeswehr was formed in 1955, when West Germany joined NATO, but the constitution held that the role of Germany's armed forces would be strictly defensive. Initially, the German army's main job was to work with its NATO allies to prevent any attack that might come from Warsaw Pact members...
...loathing of Mehsud, Zainuddin was scarcely the model of a local hero rising up against a tyrant. In recent interviews, he pledged fealty to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, declared his fondness for al-Qaeda, and waged 'jihad' against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. A key element of his quarrel with Mehsud was a difference in militant priorities: While Mehsud and his allies in the Swat Valley were principally fighting against the Pakistani military and attacking Pakistani territory, Zainuddin believed that it was wrong to attack fellow Muslims and wanted to focus their fire on Western...
Some Western analysts see the SCO's rise as a rival bloc to NATO, though these fears are, in the present climate, likely overblown. Beijing and Moscow regard each other with equal measures of warmth and distrust. The Central Asian countries tagging along are also keen to pit the Chinese and Russians against each other in a global scramble for the vast reserves of natural resources lurking beneath the region's rolling steppe and in the Caspian Sea. Still, in the U.N. Security Council, China and Russia have presented something of a united front when it comes to Iran. Their...