Germany Urges AWACS Deployment to Afghanistan, Die Welt Says

Germany is pushing for NATO airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, surveillance planes to be sent to Afghanistan to help monitor and streamline air traffic, the German newspaper Die Welt reported.

German planes and helicopters comprise a major part of Afghanistan’s air traffic and Germany has a special interest in a speedy decision on the deployment, the newspaper quoted Bernd Siebert, defense policy spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, as saying.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders meeting in Strasbourg, France, next month should use the opportunity to announce the decision, Siebert told the newspaper.

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