Germany's parliament on Thursday extended its peacekeeping mission of around 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan by a year, despite heightened concerns after a German base in northern Kunduz came under attack. In the lower house, 509 deputies voted for the extension until October 2005 and 48 were against it. However, the government has said it expected to stay much longer than the year the new mandate covers. It is the fourth time parliament has extended the German deployment, which began in December 2001. Four foreign peacekeepers were wounded late on Wednesday in a rocket attack on the German base in Kunduz. The German Defence Ministry said two soldiers from Germany and one from Switzerland were among the wounded. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is set to visit Berlin on Sunday. Under Germany's post-war constitution, parliamentary approval is required for foreign deployments of troops. Germany, a vocal opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has refused to send troops there, focusing instead on Afghanistan. About 2,000 German troops are deployed in Afghan operations, with some 1,400 in the capital of Kabul, 270 in Kunduz and 100 in Faizabad. Another 300 are in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Fourteen German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, including four in a June 2003 suicide attack on a bus filled with home-bound German troops heading to an airport. The troops in Kunduz and Faizabad are part of a civilian-military Provincial Reconstruction Team, which have been deployed across the country to improve security and protect reconstruction projects.
