German Reconstruction Team in Kunduz Under NATO Mandate

The German reconstruction team in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan will be placed under the mandate of the multinational International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO announced in Brussels on Friday. That would make it the first time that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be deployed outside the capital of Kabul in Afghanistan. The German army will be part of the reconstruction team in Kunduz with 150 soldiers till the end of the year. The team is considered to be a pilot project for military-civil rebuilding programs outside Kabul. A NATO spokesman described the NATO-led ISAF’s force mandate over Kunduz as a "first step for a progressive process." The German army will remain in Kunduz till the end of October 2004. NATO states agreed this month that the security alliance would take over the mandate for reconstruction teams such as those of the Germans, provided member states would provide ISAF soldiers with sufficient material and equipment.